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Cbe  Xafce  jenoHsb  Classics 


EDITED  BY 

LINDSAY  TODD  DAMON,  A.  B. 
Prefteaor  of  Rhetoric  in  Brown  University 


Hafte  JEngliab  Classics 


EDMUND   BURKE'S 

'i 

SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

WITH   AMERICA 


EDITED  FOR  SCHOOL   USE 


JOSEPH    VILLIERS    DENNEY 

PROFESSOR  IX  OHIO  STATE  UXI  VKKSITTI 


OF  THE 

f  UNIVERSITY 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 


Copyright  1898, 
By  SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 


ROBERT      O.       LAW      COMPANY, 
PRINTERS   AND    BINDERS,    CHICAGO 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE    •               •       •  7 

INTRODUCTION 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  BURKE    -  11 

A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY                          •        •  21 

TEXT  OF  THE  SPEECH            25 

QUESTIONS  ON   THE  LITERARY  AND  RHETORICAL 

QUALITIES  OF  THE  SPEECH               -        •        -  127 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  LOGICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  THE 

SPEECH  132 

NOTES 138 

INDEX 153 


204495 


PREFACE 

In  this  edition,  the  aim  of  the  editor  has  been  to 
direct  the  pupil  to  the  j.o^ical^  structure  as  well  as 
to  the  literary  and  rhetorical  qualities  of  the  Speech 
on  Conciliation.  The  logical  structure,  each  pupil 
may  discover  for  himself,  by  'making  a  brief  of  the 
speech  as  he  reads  the  groups  of  paragraphs  which 
mark  the  successive  steps  in  the  argument.  (See 
page  132 . )  The  literary  and  rhetorical  qualities  are 
sought  through  the  medium  of  suggestive  questions 
and  topics  for  individual  study.  (See  page  127.) 
The  Introduction,  therefore,  does  not  discuss 
Burke's  style. 

The  books  to  which  the  editor  is  chiefly  indebted 
are  mentioned  on  page  21,  and  in  the  notes.  In 
the  preparation  of  the  notes,  the  editor  also 
acknowledges  indebtedness  to  the  long  line  of 
editors  who  have  preceded  him. 


INTRODUCTION 


It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  they  [the  Speech  on 
American  Taxation,  the  Speech  on  Conciliation,  and 
the  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol\  compose  the  most 
perfect  manual  in  our  literature,  or  in  any  literature, 
for  one  who  approaches  the  study  of  public  affairs, 
whether  for  knowledge  or  for  practice.  They  are  an 
example  without  fault  of  all  the  qualities  which  the 
critic,  whether  a  theorist  or  an  actor,  of  great  political 
situations  should  strive  by  night  and  by  day  to  possess. 
If  the  subject  with  which  they  deal  were  less  near  than 
it  is  to  our  interests  and  affections  as  free  citizens,  these 
three  performances  would  still  abound  in  the  lessons  of 
an  incomparable  political  method.  If  their  subject 
were  as  remote  as  the  quarrel  between  Corinthians  and 
Corcyra,  or  the  war  between  Rome  and  the  Allies, 
instead  of  a  conflict  to  which  the  world  owes  the  oppor 
tunity  of  the  most  important  of  political  experiments, 
we  should  still  have  everything  to  learn  from  the 
author's  treatment;  the  vigorous  grasp  of  masses  of 
compressed  detail,  the  wide  illumination  from  great 
principles  of  human  experience,  the  strong  and  mascu 
line  feeling  for  the  two  great  political  ends  of  Justice 
and  Freedom,  the  large  and  generous  interpretation  of 
expediency,  the  morality,  the  vision,  the  noble  temper. 
— Morley. 


INTRODUCTION 

EDMUND   BUKKE 

Edmund  Burke  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1729. 
His  father,  a  lawyer  in  good  practice,  was  a 
Protestant ;  his  mother,  a  Catholic,  Edmund  was 
reared  a  Protestant,  but  he  always  respected  the 
faith  of  his  mother,  and  in  after  years  worked 
with  zeal  to  secure  to  his  Catholic  countrymen 
their  political  rights.  For  two  years  (1741-1743) 
he  went  to  school  at  Ballitore,  to  Abraham  Shackle- 
ton,  a  Quaker,  of  whose  good  influence  Burke 
always  spoke  in  the  highest  terms.  Then  he 
went  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  he 
remained  until  he  took  his  degree  in  1748.  From 
1744  to  1749  Oliver  Goldsmith  was  at  Trinity,  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  and  Burke  were 
acquainted  in  college,  though  they  were  afterwards 
friends  and  comrades  in  London.  Burke  did  not 
excel  in  the  studies  prescribed  for  him  at  Trinity, 
but,  following  his  bent,  read  widely  in  natural 
philosophy,  logic,  metaphysics,  history,  and 
poetry. 

His  father,  intending  to  make  a  London  lawyer 
of  him.  entered  him  as  a  student  at  the  Middle 
Temple ;  and  Burke  accordingly  took  up  his  resi- 


12  INTRODUCTION 

dence  in  London,  in  1750.  He  did  not  apply 
himself  with  diligence  to  his  legal  studies,  but 
continued  his  college  habit  of  reading  at  large  in 
literature  and  philosophy,  finding  time  also  to 
attend  the  theatres  and  the  debating  clubs  and  to 
travel  in  England  and  on  the  continent.  In  spite 
of  his  neglect  of  routine  legal  study  Burke  some 
how  gained  a  wonderful  mastery  over  fundamental 
legal  principles,  especially  those  underlying  the 
science  of  government.  His  father  however  was 
greatly  disappointed  at  Burke's  course  in  London, 
stopped  the  young  man's  allowance,  in  1755,  and 
left  him  to  support  himself  by  writing  for  the 
book-sellers.  The  next  year  he  published  two 
books  which  won  him  distinction :  A  Vindication 
of  Natural  Society,  and  A  Philosophical  Inquiry 
into  the  Origin  of  Our  Ideas  on  the  Sublime  and 
Beautiful.  The  same  year  (1756),  he  married 
Jane  Nugent,  whose  calm,  even  temper,  and 
ability  in  household  management  made  her 
unusually  helpful  to  him.  Their  home  life  was 
very  happy. 

In  1759  began  Burke's  thirty-year  connection 
with  the  Annual  Register,  a  summary  of  impor 
tant  events,  published  by  Dodsley.  The  articles 
which  Burke  contributed  to  this  publication 
marked  him  at  once  as  a  man  of  keen  political 
insight  and  broad  judgment,  and  brought  him  to 
the  notice  of  the  party  leaders.  From  1761  to 
1763,  Burke  was  in  Ireland  as  a  secretary  to  Wil- 


INTRODUCTION  13 

Ham  Gerard  Hamilton  (who  was  chief  secretary  to 
the  Lord  Lieutenant),  receiving  through  Hamil 
ton's  influence  a  pension  of  three  hundred  pounds. 
But  it  soon  became  evident  that  what  was  wanted 
of  Burke  was  a  slavish  devotion  of  all  his  talents 
to  the  fortunes  of  Hamilton,  and  Burke  indig 
nantly  left  him,  resigned  the  pension,  and  returned 
to  the  service  of  Dodsley  in  London.  There  he 
soon  became  one  of  the  famous  Literary  Club, 
which  numbered  among  its  members  such  men  as 
Johnson,  Goldsmith,  Garrick  and  Reynolds. 

When  Lord  Rockingham,  the  leader  of  a  party 
of  Old  Whigs  or  Conservative  Whigs,  became 
Prime  Minister  in  1765,  he  made  Burke  his  private 
secretary.  In  December  of  the  same  year,  Burke 
was  elected  to  Parliament  from  the  borough  of 
Wendover,  and,  very  soon  after  taking  his  seat  in 
January,  1766,  he  spoke  brilliantly  ai:d  most 
effectively  in  favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
urging  that  it  was  unwise  and  inexpedient  to  tax 
the  colonies  even  if  Parliament  had  a  legal  right  to 
do  so.  After  the  Rockingham  ministry  was  dis 
missed  in  1766,  Burke  might  have  held  office 
under  Pitt,  Rockingham's  successor,  the  leader  of 
the  Xew  Whigs  or  Radical  Whigs,  but  he  refused 
to  abandon  his  political  associates  for  the  sake  of 
personal  advancement. 

In  Parliament,  Burke  did  all  that  he  could  in 
opposition  to  the  policy  of  George  the  Third,  who 
was  trying  to  make  his  power  absolute.  He  spoke 


14  INTRODUCTION 

against  excluding  Wilkes  from  Parliament.  Wilkes 
had  incurred  the  King's  displeasure  because  of  his 
radical  opinions  fearlessly  expressed.  He  had  been 
repeatedly  elected  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
had  been  as  often  kept  from  his  seat  by  a  majority 
subservient  to  the  King's  wishes.  Burke  main 
tained  the  right  of  the  voters  to  elect  whomsoever 
they  thought  fit.  As  a  result  of  the  arbitrary 
course  pursued  by  Parliament  in  the  Wilkes  affair 
there  was  general  discontent  among  the  people,  and 
some  rioting.  In  1770,  Burke  published  his 
Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents, 
in  which  he  averred  that  all  of  England's  troubles 
had  arisen  from  the  pursuit  of  selfish  ends  by  the 
King  and  his  secret  counsellors,  who  were  breaking 
up  ordeily  party  government  and  introducing  con 
fusion  and  disorder.  The  same  year  (1770)  Lord 
North's  Tory  ministry  began  its  fateful  career  of 
twelve  years,  at  the  end  of  which  George  the  Third 
found  himself  stripped  of  his  American  colonies. 
During  these  years,  Burke 's  voice  was  often  heard 
in  Parliament,  warning  the  King's  ministers  of 
the  disasters  that  would  surely  follow  their  arbi 
trary  acts,  expounding  a  philosophy  of  government 
based  upon  reason  and  righteousness,  trying  all 
questions  by  tests  of  truth.  He  never  relaxed  his 
efforts,  although  he  knew  beforehand  that  they 
were  doomed  to  failure  at  the  hands  of  a  Parlia 
ment  in  control  of  the  "King's  friends." 

In  1774,  Bristol,  then  the  second  city  in  Eng- 


INTRODUCTION  15 

laud,  elected  Burke  as  its  representative  in  Parlia 
ment.  Bristol  had  a  large  trade  with  America, 
and  had  much  to  lose  if  the  troubles  with  the  eolo 
nies  should  grow  into  war.  While  he  was  member 
for  Bristol  he  delivered  the  Speech  on  American 
Taxation  (April  19,  1774),  in  which  he  urged  the 
repeal  of  the  tea  tax  ;  the  Speech  on  Conciliation 
with  the  Colonies  (March  22,  1775) ;  and  wrote 
the  Letter  to  the  Slier  iff s  of  Bristol  on  the  Affairs 
of  America  (April  3,  1777),  in  which  he  justified 
his  course  in  Parliament.  Burke  felt  through  all 
these  years  of  war  that  the  cause  of  liberty  in  Eng 
land  itself  was  endangered  by  the  employment  of 
armed  force  against  the  colonies.  If  the  King 
could  use  an  army  against  Englishmen  in  the  colo 
nies,  in  a  controversy  over  a  question  of  constitu 
tional  right,  what  was  to  prevent  him  from  using 
an  army  against  Englishmen  at  home  whenever  in 
the  future  they  should  make  a  similar  claim  of 
constitutional  right  against  him?  It  was  indeed 
fortunate  for  English  liberty  that  the  colonies  were 
finally  victorious.  Burke  represented  Bristol  until 
1780,  when  he  failed  of  re-election  because,  con 
trary  to  the  narrow  and  selfish  instructions  of  his 
constituents,  he  had  voted  in  favor  of  a  bill  to 
relieve  Irish  commerce  of  some  grievous  restric 
tions.  Burke  did  not  believe  that  a  representative 
is  bound  to  vote  according  to  the  wishes  of  his 
constituents  if  so  to  vote  be  against  his  own  judg 
ment  of  what  is  right  and  best.  Rejected  by 


16  INTRODUCTION 

Bristol,  he   was  elected   by   the  borough  of  Mai- 
ton. 

When,  after  Yorktown,  Lord  North's  ministry 
came  to  an  end  (1782),  the  Rockingham  party 
again  came  into  power.  Burke  now  had  a  right  to 
expect  a  cabinet  office.  He  was  the  ablest  and 
most  conspicuous  member  of  the  party;  he  had 
kept  it  together  against  the  King's  efforts  to 
destroy  it ;  he  ha,d  brought  great  honor  to  it  by  his 
speeches.  Yet  he  was  not  admitted  to  the  cabinet, 
but  was  appointed  to  a  second-rate  position  as 
Paymaster  of  the  Forces.  Some  of  the  reasons 
why  it  was  not  considered  good  politics,  in  the 
England  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to  give  Burke 
a  cabinet  position  were  his  nationality  and  his 
obscure  origin ;  his.poverty  and  his  debts ;  his  liberal 
views  on  the  Catholic  question;  charges  (never 
proved)  against  his  honesty,  arising  from  his  close 
intimacy  with  relatives  of  his  who  were  known  to 
have  engaged  in  certain  questionable  speculations ; 
an  irritability  of  temper  which  increased  with  age ; 
and  the  large  number  of  political  enemies  he  had 
made.  For  such  reasons  the  first  political  thinker 
of  the  age  was  set  aside  by  his  party  associates  on 
the  one  occasion  when  they  had  the  opportunity  of 
rewarding  him.  Burke  felt  the  neglect  keenly. 
Rockingham  died  in  three  months.  Burke  refused 
office  under  Shelburne;  went  into  opposition  with 
Fox,  Shelburne 's  rival  for  the  leadership;  the 
Wliig  party  was  consequently  split  in  twain,  ard 


INTRODUCTION  17 

the  Shelbiirne  ministry  went  to  pieces  in  1783. 
Then  the  Coalition  ministry  was  formed,  including 
such  incongruous  elements  as  the  Whig,  Fox,  and 
the  Tory,  Lord  North,  with  Burke  as  Paymaster 
again.  Fox  brought  in  a  bill  to  reform  the  govern 
ment  of  India.  Burke  advocated  the  bill,  and  it 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the  Kin^ 
procuring  its  defeat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  dis 
missed  Fox  at  the  close  of  1783.  With  the 
advent  of  the  Pitt  ministry  Burke  went  out  of 
executive  office  forever. 

Of  the  three  great  subjects  that  engaged  Burke 's 
powers  during  his  public  career, — America,  India, 
and  France, — the  second  had  now  become  prom 
inent.  For  many  years  Burke  had  studied  the 
history  and  the  workings  of  English  rule  in  India. 
He  had  made  himself  the  best-informed  man  in 
England  on  that  subject.  He  knew  that  the  East 
India  Company  had  become  terribly  corrupt  and 
cruel ;  that  it  had  plundered  whole  provinces,  and 
had  reduced  millions  of  people  to  wretchedness. 
He  believed  that  it  was  now  exercising  a  corrupt 
influence  in  Parliament  itself.  He  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  men  who  had  overthrown  the 
native  governments  in  India  and  had  established 
in  their  stead  an  irresponsible  system  of  tyranny. 
In  1785  he  gave  expression  to  some  of  his  indigna 
tion  and  wrath  at  the  condition  of  affairs  in  India 
in  his  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcofs  Debts.  For 
the  policy  of  Warren  Hastings,  Governor  General 


18  INTRODUCTION 

of  India,  Burke  entertained  feelings  of  positive 
horror,  and  in  1786  articles  prepared  by  Burke 
impeaching  Hastings  of  high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors  were  presented  to  the  House  of  Com 
mons.  The  trial  of  Hastings  began  in  1788, 
Burke  making  the  greatest  speech  of  his  life  at 
the  opening  (The  Impeachment  of  Warren 
Hastings).  The  case  was  not  finally  concluded 
until  1795,  when  Hastings  was  acquitted.  The 
trial  had,  however,  convinced  the  nation  of  the 
need  of  reform  in  the  government  of  India,  and  to 
Burke's  unsuccessful  attack  on  Hastings  must  be 
attributed  the  improvement  that  followed  in  the 
government  of  India. 

The  French  Revolution  was  the  occasion  of 
Burke's  separating  from  his  former  AVhig  associ 
ates.  Burke,  always  a_conservative,  had  now 
become  much  more  conservative  than  his  party. 
The  Whigs  very  generally  applauded  the  Revolu 
tion  in  France,  and  at  one  time  there  was  some 
danger  of  a  sympathetic  outbreak  in  England. 
Burke,  however,  saw  in  the  Revolution  nothing 
but  destruction.  He  believed  it  to  be  the  work  of 
atheists  and  theorists  who  were  waging  relentless 
war  upon  the  institutions  which,  he  thought,  pre 
serve  order  in  society, — upon  King,  Nobles,  and 
Clergy.  It  was  charged  against  him  that  he  had 
lost  his  sympathy  for  the  people ;  that  he  thought 
only  of  preserving  the  privileges  of  the  ruling 
classes.  For  the  common  people  of  France,  who 


INTRODUCTION  19 

had  suffered  a  thousand-fold  more  wrongs  than  the 
Americans,  Burke  had,  indeed,  no  word  but  obedi 
ence.  When,  in  1790,  he  published  his  Reflections 
on  the  Revolution  in  France,  his  old  enemies  the 
Tories,  King  George  himself,  and  all  the  other 
arbitrary  monarchs  in  Europe,  looked  upon  Burke 
as  their  defender  and  shield.  As  the  Revolution 
developed  its  worst  features,  Burke 's  hatred  of  it 
grew ;  he  became  more  violent  in  temper  and  less 
capable  of  calm  discussion.  In  his  subsequent 
papers  on  the  subject,  from  the  Letter  to  a  Mem 
ber  of  the  National  Assembly  to  the  Letters  on 
a  Regicide  Peace,  there  is  a  steady  decline  of  those 
powers  of  reasoning  and  persuasion  which  are  seen 
at  their  best  in  the  Speech  on  Conciliation. 

Burke  retired  from  Parliament  three  years  before 
his  death,  having  urged  for  Ireland  a  policy  similar 
to  that  which  he  had  urged  for  America.  He  was 
to  have  been  made  a  peer  with  the  title  of  Lord 
Beaconsfield,  but  the  death  of  his  son  Richard  left 
him  without  an  heir,  and  he  accepted  a  pension  of 
£2,500  a  year  instead  of  a  peerage.  His  enemies 
attacked  him  for  taking  a  pension,  and  he  replied 
in  the  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  in  which  he  vindi 
cated  his  course  completely.  He  died  in  1797. 

Burke 's  leading  characteristic  was  a  high  and 
noble_d£YDtioii  to  principle,  regardless  of  conse 
quences  to  his  own  fortunes.     Though  lie  loved 
social  order,  based  on  strict  justice,  he  believed  in 
magnanimity   in    government.      He    himself  was 


20  .  INTRODUCTION 

generous  and  open-handed  in  his  relations  with 
others,  but  careless  about  incurring  debts.  His 
desire  to  live  as  other  men  in  high  position  lived 
in  that  day  caused  him,  in  1768,  to  purchase  with 
borrowed  money  an  estate  costing  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars, — apiece  of  extravagance 
that  led  to  false  insinuations  of  dishonesty.  Burke 
was  enthusiastic  in  working  for  any  cause  that  he 
took  up.  His  vigor  and  industry  were  astonishing. 
His  reading  was  prodigious,  and  his  power  of 
marshalling  facts  and  of  filling  them  with  meaning 
was  extraordinary.  "That  fellow  calls  forth  all 
my  powers,"  said  Dr,  Johnson.  Macaulay  con 
sidered  Burke  the  greatest  man  since  Milton. 
Certain  it  is  that  few  statesmen  have  ever  lived 
whose  speeches  have  possessed  that  quality  of 
permanence,  that  value  to  other  generations,  whicli 
marks  the  utterances  of  Burke.  He  who  would 
attain  "large  and  liberal  ideas  in  politics"  should 
give  Burke  thorough  study.  Said  Fox,  "I  have 
learned  more  from  him  than  from  all  the  books  I 
ever  read. ' ' 


A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


JOHN  MORLEY.     Burke  (in  the  English  Men  of  Letters 

Series}.     This  is  the  standard  biography  of  Burke. 
JOHN  MORLEY.  Burke  (in  the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica). 
JOHN  MORLEY.     Burke:     An  Historical  Study.     This 

work  deals  with  Burke's  political  side  alone. 
LESLIE  STEPHEN.     History  of  English  Thought  in  the 

Eighteenth    Century,    volume  ii.     Burke's    political 

theories  are  carefully  set   forth  in   their  historical 

relationships. 
DICTIONARY  OF   NATIONAL  BIOGRAPHY.      Burke.      A 

valuable  bibliography  is  attached  to  the  biography. 
AUGUSTINE  BIRRELL.     Burke  (in  Obiter  Dicta,  second 

series). 
WOODROW  WILSON.    The  Interpreter  of  English  Liberty 

(in  Mere  Literature).     A  suggestive  and  entertaining 

essay.      For  bibliography  of  other  essays  on  Burke 

consult  Poole's  Index. 


The  principal  events  of  the  controversy  with  which 
the  Speech  on  Conciliation  is  concerned  are  summed  up 
in  every  good  history  of  the  United  States  (Fiske,  An 
drews,  Johnston).  They  are  treated  more  at  length  in 
the  following: 
W.  H.  LECKY.  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century. 

GEORGE  BANCROFT.     A  History  of  the  United  States. 
HOSMER.     Samuel  Adams  (in  the  American  Statesmen 

Series}. 

J.  R.  GREEN.     A  Short  History  of  the  English  People. 
21 


In  the  common  principles  of  all  social  and  civil  order, 
Burke  is  unquestionably  our  best  and  wisest  teacher. 
In  handling  the  particular  questions  of  his  time  he 
always  involves  those  principles,  and  brings  them  to 
their  practical  bearings,  where  they  most  "come  home 
to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  men."  And  his  pages 
are  everywhere  bright  with  the  highest  and  purest 
political  morality,  whilo  at  the  same  time  he  is  a  con 
su inmate  master  in  the  intellectual  charms  and  graces 
of  authorship,— Hudson 


SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH 
AMERICA 


Perhaps  the  greatest  speech  Burke  ever  made  was 
that  on  Conciliation  with  America;  the  wisest  in  its 
temper,  the  most  closely  logical  in  its  reasoning,  the 
amplest  in  appropriate  topics,  the  most  generous  and 
conciliatory  in  the  substance  of  its  appeals.  — Morley. 


SPEECH 


ox 
MOVING   HIS   RESOLUTIONS 

FOR 

CONCILIATION  WITH  THE  COLONIES,. 

MARCH  22,  1775. 


[1]  I  hope,  Sir,  that,  notwithstanding  the  austerity 
of  the  Chair,  your  good-nature  will  incline  you  to 
eome  degree  of  indulgence  towards  human  frailty. 
You  will  not  think  it  unnatural,  that  those  who 
have  an  object  depending,  which  strongly  engages 
their  hopes  and  fears,  should  be  somewhat  inclined 
to  superstition.  As  I  came  into  the  House  full  of 
anxiety  about  the  event  of  my  motion,  I  found,  to 
my  infinite  surprise,  that  the  grand  penal  bill,  by 
which  we  had  passed  sentence  on  the  trade  and 
sustenance  of  America,  is  to  be  returned  to  us  from 
the  other  House.  I  do  confess,  I  could  not  help 
Booking  on  this  event  as  a  fortunate  omen.  I  look 
upon  it  as  a  sort  of  providential  favour ;  by  which 
we  are  put  once  more  in  possession  of  our  delibera 
tive  capacity,  upon  a  business  so  very  questionable 
in  its  nature,  so  very  uncertain  in  its  issue.  By 
,  the  return  of  this  bill,  which  seemed  to  have  taken 

25 


26      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

its  flight  for  ever,  we  are  at  this  very  instant  nearly 
as  free  to  choose  a  plan  for  our  American  govern 
ment  as  we  were  on  the  first  day  of  the  session. 
If,  Sir,  we  incline  to  the  side  of  conciliation,  we 
are  not  at  all  embarrassed  (unless  we  please  to 
make  ourselves  so)  by  any  incongruous  mixture  of 
coercion  and  restraint.  We  are  therefore  called 
upon,  as  it  were,  by  a  superior  warning  voice, 
again  to  attend  to  America ;  to  attend  to  the  whole 
of  it  together ;  and  to  review  the  subject  with  an 
unusual  degree  of  care  and  calmness. 

[2]  Surely  it  is  an  awful  subject ;  or  there  is  none  so 
on  this  side  of  the  grave.  When  I  first  had  the 
honour  of  a  seat  in  this  House,  the  affairs  of  that 
continent  pressed  themselves  upon  us,  as  the  most 
important  and  most  delicate  object  of  parlia 
mentary  attention.  My  little  share  in  this  great 
deliberation  oppressed  me.  I  found  myself  a  par 
taker  in  a  very  high  trust ;  and  having  no  sort 
of  reason  to  rely  on  the  strength  of  my  natural 
abilities  for  the  proper  execution  of  that  trust, 
I  was  obliged  to  take  more  than  common  pains 
to  instruct  myself  in  everything  which  relates 
to  our  colonies.  I  was  not  less  under  the  necessity 
of  forming  some  fixed  ideas  concerning  the 
general  policy  of  the  British  empire.  Some 
thing  of  this  sort  seemed  to  be  indispensable ;  in 
order,  amidst  so  vast  a  fluctuation  of  passions  and 
opinions,  to  concentre  my  thoughts;  to  ballast  my 

/    conduct;  to  preserve  me  from  being  blown  about 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION      2? 

oy  eyery^wind __pf   fashionable  doctrine.     I  really  > 
did  not  think  it  safe,  or  manly,  to  have  fresh  prin 
ciples  to  seek  upon  every  fresh  mail  which  should 
arrive  from  America. 

[3]  At  that  period  I  had  the  fortune  to  find  myself 
in  perfect  concurrence  with  a  large  majority  in 
this  House.  Bowing  under  that  high  authority, 
and  penetrated  with  the  sharpness  and  strength  of 
that  early  impression,  I  have  continued  ever  since, 
without  the  least  deviation,  in  my  original  senti 
ments.  Whether  this  be  owing  to  an  obstinate  per 
severance  in  error,  or  to  a  religious  adherence  to 
what  appears  to  me  truth  and  reason,  it  is  in  your 
equity  to  judge. 

"*J  Sir,  Parliament,  having  an  enlarged  view  of 
objects,  made,  during  this  interval,  more  frequent 
changes  in  their  sentiments  and  their  conduct, 
than  could  be  justified  in  a  particular  person  upon 
the  contracted  scale  of  private  information.  But 
though  I  do  not  hazard  anything  approaching  to 
censure  on  the  motives  of  former  parliaments  to 
all  those  alterations,  one  fact  is  undoubted, — that 
under  them  the  state  of  America  has  been  kept  in  ' 
continual  agitation.  Everything  administered  as 
remedy  to  the  public  complaint,  if  it  did  not 
produce,  was  at  least  followed  by,  an  heightening 
of  the  distemper ;  until,  by  a  variety  of  experiments, 
that  important  country  has  been  brought  into  her 
present  situation; — a  situation  which  I  will  not 
miscall,  which  I  dare  not  name;  which  I  scarcely 


28       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

know  how  to  comprehend  in   the   terms  of   any 
description. 

In  this  posture,  Sir,  things  stood  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  session.  About  that  time,  a  worthy 
member  of  great  parliamentary  experience,  who, 
in  the  year  1766,  filled  the  chair  of  the  American 
committee  with  much  ability,  took  me  aside;  and, 
lamenting  the  present  aspect  of  our  politics,  told 
me,  things  were  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  our 
former  methods  of  proceeding  in  the  House  would 
be  no  longer  tolerated.  That  the  public  tribunal 
(never  too  indulgent  to  a  long  and  unsuccessful 
opposition)  would  now  scrutinize  our  conduct  with 
unusual  severity.  That  the  very  vicissitudes  and 
shiftings  of  ministerial  measures,  instead  of  convict 
ing  their  authors  of  inconstancy  and  want  of 
system,  would  be  taken  as  an  occasion  of  charging 
us  with  a  predetermined  discontent,  which  nothing 
could  satisfy ;  whilst  we  accused  every  measure  of 
vigour  as  cruel,  and  every  proposal  of  lenity  as 
weak  and  irresolute.  The  public,  he  said,  would 
not  have  patience  to  see  us  play  the  game  out  with 
our  adversaries:  we  must  produce  our  hand.  It 
would  be  expected,  that  those  who  for  many  years 
had  been  active  in  such  affairs  should  show,  that 
they  had  formed  some  clear  and  decided  idea  of 
the  principles  of  colony  government;  and  were 
capable  of  drawing  out  something  like  a  platform 
of  the  ground  which  might  be  laid  for  future  and 
permanent  tranquillity. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION        23 

[6]  I  felt  the  truth  of  what  my  honourable  friend 
represented;  but  I  felt  my  situation,  too.  His 
application  might  have  been  made  with  far  greater 
propriety  to  many  other  gentlemen.  No  man  was 
indeed  ever  better  disposed,  or  worse  qualified,  for 
such  an  undertaking,  than  myself.  Though  I 
gave  so  far  in  to  his  opinion,  that  I  immediately 
threw  my  thoughts  into  a  sort  of  parliamentary 
form,  I  was  by  no  means  equally  ready  to  produce 
them.  It  generally  argues  some  degree  of  natural 
impotence  of  mind,  or  some  want  of  knowledge  of 
the  world,  to  hazard  plans  of  government  except  > 
from  a  sejitjofjmthority.  Propositions  are  made, 
not  only  ineffectually,  but  somewhat  disreputably, 
when  the  minds  of  men  are  not  properly  disposed 
for  their  reception;  and  for  my  part,  I  am  not 
ambitious  of  ridicule;  not  absolutely  a  candidate 
for  disgrace. 

[?]  Besides,  Sir,  to  speak  the  plain  truth,  I  have  in 
general  no  very  exalted  opinion  of  the  virtue  of 
paper  government;  nor  of  any  politics  in  which 
the  plan  is  to  be  wholly  separated  from  the  execu 
tion.  But  when  I  saw  that  anger*  and  violence 
prevailed  every  day  more  and  more;  and  that 
things  were  hastening  towards  an  incurable  aliena 
tion  of  our  colonies;  I  confess  my  caution  gave 
way.  I  felt  this,  as  one  of  those  few  moments  in 
which  decorum  yields  to  a  higher  duty.  Public 
calamity  is  a  mighty  leveller;  and  there  are 
occasions  \fhen  any,  even  the  slightest,  chance  of 


30       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

f 

doing   good,  must  be  laid  hold  on,  even  by  the 
most  inconsiderable  person. 

[8j  To  restore  order  and  repose  to  an  empire  so  great 
and  so  distracted  as  ours,  is,  merely  in  the  attempt, 
an  undertaking  that  would  ennoble  the  flights  of 
the  highest  genius,  and  obtain  pardon  for  the 
efforts  of  the  meanest  understanding.  Struggling 
a  good  while  with  these  thoughts,  by  degrees  I 
felt  myself  more  firm.  I  derived,  at  length,  some 
confidence  from  what  in  other  circumstances 
usually  produces  timidity.  I  grew  less  anxious, 
even  from  the  idea  of  my  own  insignificance. 
For,  judging  of  what  you  are  by  what  you  ought 
to  be,  I  persuaded  myself  that  you  would  not 
reject  a  reasonable  proposition  because  it  had  noth 
ing  but  its  reason  to  recommend  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  being  totally  destitute  of  all  shadow  of  influ 
ence,  natural  or  adventitious,  I  was  very  sure,  that, 
if  my  proposition  were  futile  or  dangerous ;  if  it 
were  weakly  conceived,  or  improperly  timed,  there 
was  nothing  exterior  to  it,  of  power  to  awe,  dazzle, 
or  delude  you.  You  will  see  it  just  as  if  is :  and 
you  will  treat  it  just  as  it  deserves. 

\9]  The  proposition  is  peace.  Not  peace  through 
the  medium  of  war;  not  peace  to  be  hunted 
through  the  labyrinth  of  intricate  and  endless  H, 
negotiations;  not  peace  to  arise  out  of  universal 
discord,  fomented  from  principle,  in  all  parts  of 
the  empire ;  not  peace  to  depend  on  the  juridical 
determination  of  perplexing  questions,  or  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION      31 

precise  marking  the  shadowy  boundaries  of  a  com 
plex  government.  It  is  simple  peace;  sought  in 
its  natural  course,  and  in  its  ordinary  haunts. — It 
is  peace  sought  in  the  spirit  of  peace ;  and  laid  in 
principles  purely  pacific.  I  propose,  bj^remoTJnj^ 
the  ground  of  the  difference,  and  by  restoring  the 
former  unsuspecting  confidence  of  tlie  colonies  in 
the  mother  country,  to  give  permanent  satisfaction 
to  your  people;  and  (far  from  a  scheme  of  ruling 
by  discord)  to  reconcile  them  to  each  other  in  the 
same  act,  and  by  the  bond  of  the  very  same  inter 
est  which  reconciles  them  to  British  government. 
[10]  My  idea  is  nothing  more.  Refined  policy  ever 
has  been  the  parent  of  confusion;  and  ever  will  be 
so,  as  long  as  the  world  endures.  Plain.. good 
intention,  which  is  as  easily  discovered  at  the  first 
view,  as  fraud  is  surely  detected  at  last,  is,  let  me 
say,  of  no  mean  force  in  the  government  of  man-  - 
kind.  Genuine  simplicity  of  heart  is  an  healing 
and  cementing  principle.  My  plan,  therefore, 
being  formed  upon  the  most  simple  grounds  imagi 
nable,  may  disappoint  some  people,  when  they 
hear  it.  It  has  nothing  to  recommend  it  to  the 
pruriency  of  curious  ears.  There  is  nothing  at  all 
new  and  captivating  in  it.  It  has  nothing  of  the 
splendour  of  the  project,  which  has  been  lately  laid  , 
upon  your  table  by  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue 
riband.  It  does  not  propose  to  fill  your  lobby 
with  squabbling  colony  agents,  who  will  require 
the  interposition  of  your  mace,  at  every  instant,  tc 


32      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

keep  the  peace  amongst  them.  It  does  not  insti 
tute  a  magnificent  auction  of  finance,  where  capti 
vated  provinces  come  to  general  ransom  by  bidding 
against  each  other,  until  you  knock  down  the  ham 
mer,  and  determine  a  proportion  of  paymentsbeyond 
all  the  powers  of  algebra  to  equalize  and  settle. 

fit]-  The  plan  which  I  shall  presume  to  suggest, 
derives,  however,  one  great  advantage  from  the 
proposition  and  registry  of  that  noble  lord's  pro 
ject.  The  idea  of  conciliation  is  admissible. 
First,  the  House,  in  accepting  the  resolution  moved 
by  the  noble  lord,  has  admitted,  notwithstanding 
the  menacing  front  of  our  address,  notwithstand 
ing  our  heavy  bills  of  pains  and  penalties— that  we 
do  not  think  ourselves  precluded  from  all  ideas  of 
free  grace  and  bounty. 

-••»2j  The  House  has  gone  further;  it  has  declared 
conciliation  admissible,  previous  to  any  submission 
on  the  part'  of  America.  It  has  even  shot  a  good 
deal  beyond  that  mark,  and  has  admitted,  that  the 
complaints  of  our  former  mode  of  exerting  the  right 

/  of  taxation  were  not  wholly  unfounded.  That 
right  thus  exerted  is  allowed  to  have  had  something 
reprehensible  in  it ;  something  unwise,  or  something 
grievous;  since,  in  the  midst  of  our  heat  and  resent 
ment,  we,  of  ourselves,  have  proposed  a  capital  altera 
tion  ;  and,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  what  seemed  so  very 
exceptionable,  have  instituted  a  mode  that  is  alto 
gether  new;  one  that  is,  indeed,  wholly  alien  from 
All  the  ancient  methods  and  forms  of  parliament, 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       33 

[13]  The  principle  of  this  proceeding  is  large  enough 
for  my  purpose.  The  means  proposed  by  the 
noble  lord  for  carrying  his  ideas  into  execution,  I 
think,  indeed,  are  very  indifferently  suited  to  the 
end ;  and  this  I  shall  endeavour  to  show  you  before 
I  sit  down.  But,  for  the  present,  I  take  my 
ground  on  the  admitted  principle.  {l  mean  to  give 
peace.  Peace  implies  reconciliation;  and,  where 
there  has  been  n  material  dispute,  reconciliation 
does  in  a  manner  always  imply  concession  on  the 
one  part  or  on  the  other.  InTihis  state  of  things 
I  make  no  difficulty  in  affirming  that  the  proposal 
ought  to  originate  from_  us.  Great  and  acknowl 
edged  force  is  not  impaired,  either  in  effect  or  in 
opinion,  by  an  unwillingness  to  exert  itself.  The 
superior  power  may  offer  peace  with  honour  and 
with  safety.  Such  an  offer  from  such  a  power  will 
be  attributed  to  magnanimity.  But  the  concessions 
of  the  weak  are  the  concessions  of  fear.  When 
such  a  one  is  disarmed,  liejs  jvhoj.ly_at  the  mercy 
of  his  superior ;  and  he  loses  for  ever  that  time  and 
those  chances,  which,  as  they  happen  to  all  men, 
are  the  strength  and  resources  of  all  inferior  powerT\ 

[14]  The  capital  leading  questions  on  which  you  must 
this  day  decide,  are  these  two:  First,  whether  you 
ought  to  concede;  and  secondly,  what  your  con 
cession  ought  to  be.  On  the  first  of  these  ques 
tions  weTiave  gained  (as  I  have  just  taken  the 
liberty  of  observing  to  you)  some  ground.  But  I 
am  sensible  that  a  good  deal  more  is  still  to  be  done. 


34       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION 

Indeed,  Sir,  to  enable  us  to  determine  both  on  the 
one  and  the  other  of  these  great  questions  with  a 
firm  and  precise  judgment,  I  think  it  may  be 
necessary  to  consider  distinctly  the  true  nature  and 
the  pe^uHar^^cumstances  of  the  object  which  we 
have  before  us.  Because  after  all  our  struggle, 
whether  we  will  or  not,  we. must  govern  America 
according  to  that  nature,  and  to  those  circum 
stances  ;  and  not  according  to  our  own  imagina- 
,  tions ;  nor  according  to  abstract  ideas  of  right ;  by 
no  means  according  to  mere  general  theories  of 
government,  the  resort  to  which  appears  to  me,  in 
our  present  situation,  no  better  than  arrant  trifling. 
I  shall  therefore  endeavour,  with  your  leave,  to  lay 
before  you  some  of  the  most  material  of  these 
circumstances  in  as  full  and  as  clear  a  manner  as  I 
am  able  to  state  them. 

(15]  The  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider  with 
*~  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  object  is — the  number 
of  people  in. the.  jcolojries.  I  have  taken  for  some 
years  a  good  deal  of  pains  on  that  point.  I  can  by 
no  calculation  justify  myself  in  placing  the  number 
below  two  millions  of  inhabitants  of  our  own 
European  blood  and  colour;  besides  at  least  500,- 

000  others,  who  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the 
strength  and  opulence  of  the  whole.     This,  Sir,  is, 

1  believe,  about  the  true  number.     There  is  no 
occasion  to  exaggerate,  where  plain  truth  is  of  so 
much  weight  and  importance.     But  whether  I  put 
the  present  numbers  too  high  or  too  low,  is  a  mat- 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       35 

ter  of  little  moment.  Such  is  the  strength  with 
which  population  shoots  in  that  part  of  the  world, 
that  state  the  numbers  as  high  as  we  will,  whilst 
the  dispute  continues,  the  exaggeration  ends. 
Whilst  we  are  discussing  any  given  magnitude, 
they  are  grown  to  it.  Whilst  we  spend  our  time 
in  deliberating  on  the  mode  of  governing  two 
millions,  we  shall  find  we  have  millions  more  to 
manage.  Your  children  do  not  grow  faster  from 
infancy  to  manhood  than  they  spread  from  families 
to  communities,  and  from  villages  to  nations. 

[16]  I  put  this  consideration  of  the  present  and  the 
growing  numbers  in  the  front  of  our  deliberation ; 
because,  Sir,  this  consideration  will  make  it  evi 
dent  to  a  blunter  discernment  than  yours,  that  no 
partial,  narrow,  contracted,  pinched,  occasional 
system  will  be  at  all  suitable  to  such  an  object.  It 
will  show  you,  that  it  is  not  to  be  considered  as 
one  of  those  minima  which  are  out  of  the  eye  and 
consideration  of  the  law ;  not  a  paltry  excrescence 
of  the  state;  not  a  mean  dependent,  who  maybe 
neglected  with  little  damage,  and  provoked  with 
little  danger.  It  will  prove  that  some  degree  of 
care  and  caution  is  required  in  the  handling  such 
an  object;  it  will  show  that  you  ought  not,  in 
reason,  to  trifle  with  so  large  a  mass  of  the  inter 
ests  and  feelings  of  the  human  race.  You  could  at 
no  time  do  so  without  guilt ;  and  be  assured  you  will 
not  be  able  to  do  it  long  with  impunity. 

[17]      But  the  population  of  this  country,  the  great  and 


36       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

growing  population,  though  a  very  important  con 
sideration,  will  lose  much  of  its  weight,  if  not  com 
bined  with  other  circumstances.  The  commerce  of 
your  colonies  is  out  of  all  proportion  beyond  the 
numbers  of  the  people.  This  ground  of  their 
commerce  indeed  has  been  trod  some  days  ago, 
and  with  great  ability,  by  a  distinguished  person, 
at  your  bar.  This  gentleman,  after  thirty-five 
years — it  is  so  long  since  he  first  appeared  at  the 
same  place  to  plead  for  the  commerce  of  Great 
Britain — has  come  again  before  you  to  plead  the 
same  cause,  without  any  other  effect  of  time,  than, 
that  to  the  fire  of  imagination  and  extent  of  erudi 
tion,  which  even  then  marked  him  as  one  of  the 
first  literary  characters  of  his  age,  he  has  added  a 
consummate  knowledge  in  the  commercial  interest 
of  his  country,  formed  by  a  long  course  of  enlight 
ened  and  discriminating  experience. 

.[18]  Sir,  I  should  be  inexcusable  in  coming  after  such 
a  person  with  any  detail,  if  a  great  part  of  the 
members  who  now  fill  the  House  had  not  the  mis 
fortune  to  be  absent  when  he  appeared  at  your  bar. 
Besides,  Sir,  I  propose  to  take  the  matter  at  periods 
of  time  somewhat  different  from  his.  There  is,  if 
I  mistake  not,  a  point  of  view,  from  whence,  if  you 
will  look  at  this  subject,  it  is  impossible  that  it 
should  not  make  an  impression  upon  you. 

J19]  I  have  in  my  hand  two  accounts;  one  a  com 
parative  state  G."  the  export  trade  of  England  to  its 
colonies,  as  it  stood  in  the  year  1704,  and  as  it 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      3? 

stood  in  the  year  1772.  The  other  a  state  of  the 
export  trade  of  this  country  to  its  colonies  alone,  as 
it  stood  in  1772,  compared  with  the  whole  trade 
of  England  to  all  parts  of  the  world  (the  colonies 
included)  in  the  year  1704.  They  are  from  good 
vouchers ;  the  latter  period  from  the  accounts  on 
your  table,  the  earlier,  from  an  original  manuscript 
of  Davenant,  who  first  established  the  inspector  - 
general's  office,  which  has  been  ever  since  his  time 
so  abundant  a  source  of  parliamentary  information. 

[20]  The  export  trade  to  the  colonies  consists  of  three 
great  branches.  The  African,  which,  terminating 
almost  wholly  in  the  colonies,  must  be  put  to  the 
account  of  their  commerce;  the  .West  Indian ;  and 
the  North  American.  All  these  are  so  interwoven, 
that  the  attempt  to  separate  them,  would  tear  to 
pieces  the  contexture  of  the  whole;  and  if  not 
entirely  destroy,  would  very  much  depreciate  the 
value  of  all  the  parts.  I  therefore  consider  these 
three  denominations  to  be,  what  in  effect  they  are, 
one  trade. 

[21]  The  trade  to  the  colonies,  taken  on  the  export 
side,  at  the  beginning  of  thi?  century,  that  is,  ia 
the  year  1704,  stood  thus : 

Exports  to  North    America,  and 

the    West    Indies,      ....     £483,265 
To  Africa,        86,665 


£569,930 


38      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION 

[22]  In  the  year  1772,  which  I  take  as  a  middle  year 
between  the  highest  and  lowest  of  those  lately  laid 
on  your  table,  the  account  was  as  follows : 

To  North  America,  and  the  West 

Indies, £4,791,734 

To  Africa, 866,398 

To  which,  if  you  add  the  export 
trade  from  Scotland,  which  had 
in  1704  no  existence,  ....  364,000 


£6,022,188 


(23]  From  five  hundred  and  odd  thousand,  it  has 
grown  to  six  millions.  It  has  increased  no  less 
than  twelve-fold.  This  is  the  state  of  the  colony 
trade,  as  compared  with  itself  at  these  two  periods, 
within  this  century ;— and  this  is  matter  for  medi 
tation.  But  this  is  not  all.  Examine  my  second 
account.  See  how  the  export  trade  to  the  colonies 
alone  in  1772  stood  in  the  other  point  of  view,  that 
is,  as  compared  to  the  whole  trade  of  England  ID 
1704. 

The  whole  export  trade  of  Eng 
land,  including  that  to  the  col 
onies,  in  1704, £6,509,000 

Export  to  the  colonies  alone,  in 

1772, 6,024,000 

Difference,     £  485,000 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      39 

f24]  The  trade  with  America  alone  is  now  within  less 
than  £500,000  of  being  equal  to  wW  this  great 
commercial  nation,  England,  carried  on  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century  with  the  whole  world ! 
If  I  had  taken  the  largest  year  of  those  on,  your 
table,  it  would  rather  have  exceeded.  Bnt,  it  will 
be  said,  is  not  this  American  trade  an  unnatural 
protuberance,  that  has  drawn  the  juices  from  the 
rest  of  tlie  body?  The  reverse.  It  is  the  ver£ 
food  that  has  nourished  every  other  part  into  its 
present  magnitude.  Our  general  trade  has  been 
greatly  augmented,  and  augmented  more  or  less  in 
almost  every  part  to  which  it  ever  extended ;  but 
with  this  material  difference,  that  of  the  six  mil 
lions  which  in  the  beginning  of  the  century  consti 
tuted  the  whole  mass  of  our  export  commerce,  the 
colony  trade  wa^  but  one-ijveTfth _part ;  it  is  now 
(as  a  part  of  sixteen  millions)  considerably  more 
than  a  third  oJLthe  whole.  This  is  the  relative 
proportion  of  the  importance  of  the  colonies  at 
these  two  periods:  and  all  reasoning  concerning^ 
our  mode  of  treating  them  must  have  this  propor 
tion  as  its  basis,  or  it  is  a  reasoning  weak,  rotten, 
and  sophistical. 

Mr.   Speaker,    I    cannot    prevail   on    myself   to 
hurry  over  this  great  consideration.     It   is   good.':-' 
for  us   to  be   here.      We  stand   where   we   have 
an  immense  view  of  what  is,  and  what   is   past.:-. 
Clouds,  indeed,  and  darkness  rest  upon  the  future.1 
Let  us,  however,  before  we  descend  from  this  noble 


40       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

eminence,  reflect  that  this  growth  of  our  national 
prosperity  has  happened  within  the  short  period  of 
the  life  of  man.  It  has  happened  within  sixty- 
eight  years.  There  are  those  alive  whose  memory 
might  touch  the  two  extremities.  For  instance,  my 
Lord  Bathurst  might  remember  all  the  stages  of 
the  progress.  He  was  in  1704  of  an  age  at  least 
to  be  made  to  comprehend  such  things.  He  was 
then  old  enough  acta  parentum  jam  legere,  et  quce 
sit  poterit  cognoscere  virtus1 — Suppose,  Sir,  that 
the  angel  of  this  auspicious  youth,  foreseeing  the 
many  virtues,  which  made  him  one  of  the  most 
amiable,  as  he  is  one  of  the  most  fortunate,  men  of 
his  age,  had  opened  to  him  in  vision,  that  when,  in 
the  fourth  generation,  the  third  prince  of  the 
House  of  Brunswick  had  sat  twelve  years  on  the 
throne  of  that  nation,  which  (by  the  happy  issue 
of  moderate  and  healing  councils)  was  to  be  made 
Great  Britain,  he  should  see  his  son,  Lord  Chancel 
lor  of  England,  turn  back  the  current  of  hereditary 
dignity  to  its  fountain,  and  raise  him  to  a  higher 
rank  of  peerage,  whilst  he  enriched  the  family 
with  a  new  one — If  amidst  these  bright  and  happy 
scenes  of  domestic  honour  and  prosperity,  that 
angel  should  have  drawn  up  the  curtain,  and 
unfolded  the  rising  glories  of  his  country,  and 
whilst  he  was  gazing  with  admiration  on  the  then 

1  To  read  about  the  deeds  of  his  forefathers  and  to 
comprehend  what  manliness  is. — Adapted  from  Vergil. 
Eclogues,  IV,  26,  27, 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      41 

commercial  grandeur  of  England,  the  genius  should 
point  out  to  him  a  little  speck,  scarce  visible  in  the 
mass  of  the  national  interest,  a  small  seminal  prin 
ciple,  rather  than  a  formed  body,  and  should  tell 
him — "Young  man,  there  is  America — which  at 
this  day  serves  for  little  more  than  to  amuse  you 
with  stories  of  savage  men,  and  uncouth  manners ; 
yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  death,  showjtself  equal 
to  the  whole  of  that  commerce  which  now  attracts 
the  envy  of  the  world.  Whatever  England  has 
been  growing  to  by  a  progressive  increase  of 
improvement,  brought  in  by  varieties  of  people, 
by  succession  of  civilizing  conquests  and  civilizing 
settlements  in  a  series  of  seventeen  hundred  years, 
you  shall  see  as  much  added  to  her  by  America  in 
the  course  of  a  single  life!"  If  this  state  of  his 
country  had  been  foretold  to  him,  would  it  not 
require  all  the  sanguine  credulity  of  youth,  and  all 
the  fervid  glow  of  enthusiasm,  to  make  him 
believe  it?  Fortunate  man,  he  has  lived  to  see  it! 
Fortunate  indeed,  if  he  lives  to  see  nothing  that 
shall  vary  the  prospect,  and  cloud  the  setting  of 
his  day! 

126)  Excuse,  me,  Sir,  if  turning  from  such  thoughts 
I  resume  this  comparative  view  once  more.  You 
have  seen  it  on  a  large  scale ;  look  at  it  on  a  small 
one.  I  will  point  out  to  your  attention  a  particu. 
lar  instance  of  it  in  the  single  province  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  In  the  year  1704,  that  province  called  for 
£11,459  in  value  of  your  commodities,  native  and 


42       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION 

foreign.  This  was  the  whole.  What  did  it 
demand  in  1772?  Why,  nearly  fifty  times  as  much ; 
for  in  that  year  the  export  to  Pennsylvania  was 
£507,909,  nearly  equal  to  the  export  to  all  the 
colonies  together  in  the  first  period. 

(27]  I  choose,  Sir,  to  enter  into  these  minute  and 
j  /particular  details  because  generalities,  which  in  all 
other  cases  are  apt  to  heighten  and  raise  the  sub 
ject,  have  here  a  tendency  .tp_sin_k  it.  When  we 
speak  of  the  commerce  with  our  colonies,  fiction 
lags  after  truth;  invention  is  unfruitful,  and 
imagination  cold  and  barren. 

(28]  So  far,  Sir,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  object 
in  view  of  its  commerce,  as  concerned  in  the 
exports  from  England.  If  I  were  to  detail  the 
imports,  I  could  show  how  many  enjoyments  they 
procure,  which  deceive  the  burthen  of  life;  howr 
many  materials  which  invigorate  the  springs  of 
national  industry,  and  extend  and  animate  every 
part  of  our  foreign  and  domestic  commerce.  This 
would  be  a  curious  subject  indeed — but  I  must 
prescribe  bounds  to  myself  in  a  matter  so  vast  and 
various. 

f29]  I  pass  therefore  to  the  colonies  in  another  point 
of  view,  their  agriculture.  This  they  have  prose 
cuted  with  such  a  spirit,  that,  besides  feeding 
plentifully  their  own  growing  multitude,  their 
annual  export  of  grain,  comprehending  rice,  has 
some  years  ago  exceeded  a  million  in  value.  Of 
their  last  harvest,  I  am  persuaded  they  will  export 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       43 

much   more.      At  the  beginning  of  the  century 
some   of  these  colonies  imported   corn    from  the 
mother   country.      For  some  time  past,  the  Old 
World  has  heen  fed  from  the  New.     The  scarcity 
which  you  have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating 
famine,  if  this  child  of  your  old  age,  with  a  true  . , 
filial  piety,  with  a  Roman  charity,  had  not  put  the  : 
full  breast  of  its  youthful  exuberance  to  the  mouth 
of  its  exhausted  parent. 

[80]  As  to  the  wealth  which  the  colonies  have  drawn  ^~ 
from  the  sea  by  their  fisheries,  you  had  all  that 
matter  fully  opened  at  your  bar.  You  surely 
thought  these  acquisitions  of  value,  for  they 
seemed  even  to  excite  your  envy;  and  yet  the 
spirit  by  ivhich  that  enterprising  employment  has 
been  exercised,  ought  rather,  in  my  opinion,  to 
have  raised  your  esteem  and  admiration.  And  pray, 
Sir,  what  in  the  world  is  equal  to  it?  Pass  by  the 
other  parts,  and  look  at  the  manner  in  which  the 
people  of  New  England  have  of  late  carried  on 
the  whale  fishery  Whilst  we  follow  them  among 
the  tumbling  mountains. of  ice,  and  behold  them 
penetrating  into  the  deepest  frozen  recesses  of 
Hudson's  Bay  and  Davis's  Straits,  whilst  we  are 
looking  for  them  beneath  the  arctic  circle,  we  hear 
that  they  have  pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of 
polar  cold,  that  they  are  at  the  antipodes,  and 
engaged  under  the  frozen  serpent  of  the  south. 
Falkland  Island,  which  seemed  too  remote  and 
romantic  an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national  ambi 


44      BUKKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

tion,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting-place  in  the  progress 
of  their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is  the  equinoctial 
heat  more  discouraging  to  them,  than  the  accumu 
lated  winter  of  both  the  poles.  We  know  that 
whilst  some  of  them  draw  the  line  and  strike  the 
harpoon  on  the  coast  of^Africa,  others  run  the 
longitude,  and  pursue  their  gigantic  game  along 
the  coastjof  Brazil.  No  sea  but  what  is  vexed  by 
their  fisheries.  No  climate  that  is  not  witness  to 
their  toils.  Neither  the  perseverance  of  Holland, 
nor  the  activity  of  France,  nor  the  dexterous  *»nd 
firm  sagacity  of  English  enterprise,  ever  carried 
this  most  perilous  mode  of  hard  industry  to  the 
extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by  this  recent 
people;  a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  wrere,  but  in 
the  gristle,  and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of 
manhoocL  When  I  contemplate  these  things; 
when  I  know  that  the  colonies  in  general  owe  little 
or  nothing  to  any  care  ofj)urs,  and  that  they  are 
not  squeezed  into  this  happy  form  by  the  con 
straints  of  watchful  and  suspicious  government, 
but  that,  through  a  wise  and  salutary  neglect,  a 
generous  nature  has  been  suffered  to  take  her  own 
way  to  perfection;  when  1  reflect  upon  these 
effects,  when  I  see  how  profitable  they  have  been 
to  us,  I  feel  all  the  pride  of  power  sink,  and  all 
presumption  in  the  wisdom  of  human  contrivances 
melt  and  die  away  within  me.  My  rigour  relents 
I  pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty. 
[31]  I  am  sensible,  Sir,  that  all  which  I  have  asserted 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION       45 

in  my  detail,  is  admitted  in  the  gross;  but  that 
quite  a  different  conclusion  is  drawn  from  it. 
America,  gentlemen  say,  is  a  noble  object.  It  ia 
an  object  well  worth  fighting  for.  Certainly  it  is, 
if  fighting  a  people  be  the  best  tfay  of  gaining  them. 
Gentlemen  in  this  respect  will  be  led  to  their  choice 
of  means  by  their  complexions  and  their  habits. 
Those  who  understand  the  military  art,  will  of 
course  have  some  predilection  for  it.  Those  who 
wield  the  thunder  of  the  state,  may  have  more 
confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  arms.  But  I  confess, 
possibly  for  want  of  this  knowledge,  my  opinion  is 
much  more  in  favour  of  prudent  management,  than 
of  force;  considering  force  not  as  an  odious,  but 
a  feeble  instrument,  for  preserving  a  people  so 
nu mere  us,  so  active,  so  growing,  so  spirited  as 
this,  in  a  profitable  and  subordinate  connexion 
with  us. 

[32J  First,  Sir,  permit  me  to  observe,  that  the  use  of 
force  alone  is  but  temporary.  It  may  subdue  for 
a  moment ;  but  it  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of 
subduing  again:  and  a  nation  is  not  governed, 
which  is  perpetually  to  be  conquered. 

[33]  My  next  objection  is  its  uncertainty.  Terror  is 
not  always  the  effect  of  force;  and  an  armament 
is  not  a  victory.  If  you  do  not  succeed,  you  are 
without  resource;  for,  conciliation  failing^  Jprce 
remains;  but,  force  failing,  no  further  hope  of 
reconciliation  is  left.  Power  and  authority  are 
sometimes  bought  by  kindness;  but  they  can  never 


46       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

be  begged  as  alms  by  an  impoverished  and  defeated 
violence. 

t34J  A  further  objection  to  force  is,  that  youjLWg&iL. 
thfLJll&££t-^y  your  very  endeavours  to  preserve  it. 
The  thing  you  fought  for  is  not  the  thing  which 
you  recover;  but  depreciated,  sunk,  wasted,  and 
consumed  in  the  contest.  Nothing  less  will  con 
tent  me,  than  whole  America.  I  do  not  choose  to 
consume  its  strength  along  with  our  own ;  because 
in  all  parts  it  is  the  British  strength  that  I  con 
sume.  I  do  not  choose  to  be  caught  by  a  foreign 
enemy  at  the  end  of  this  exhausting  conflict;  and 
still  less  in  the  midst  of  it.  I  may  escape ;  but  I 
can  make  no  insurance  against  such  an  event.  Let 
me  add,  that  I  do  not  choose  wholly  to  break  the 
American  spirit ;  because  it  is  the  spirit  that  has 
made  the  country. 

[35]  Lastly,  we  have  no  sort  of  experience  in  favour  of 
force  as  an  instrument  in  the  rule  of  our  colonies. 
Their  growth  and  their  utility  has  been  owing  to 
methods  altogether  different.  Our  ancient  indul 
gence  has  been  said  to  be  pursued  to  a  fault.  It 
may  be  so.  But  we  know  if  feeling  is  evidence, 
that  our  fault  was  more  tolerable  than  our  attempt 
to  mend  it ;  and  our  sin  far  more  salutary  than  our 
penitence. 

[36]  These,  Sir,  are  my  reasons  for  not  entertaining 
that  high  opinion  of  untried  force,  by  which  many 
gentlemen,  for  whose  sentiments  in  other  particu 
lars  I  have  great  respect,  seem  to  be  so  greatly 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      47 

captivated.  (But  there  is  still  behind  a  third  con 
sideration  concerning  this  object,  which  serves  to 
determine  my  opinion  on  the  sort  of  policy  which 
ought  to  be  pursued  in  the  management  of  America, 
even  more  than  its  population  and  its  commerce. 
I  mean  its  temper  and  character. 

[37]  In  this  "ciHSracter  of  the  Americans,  a  love  j}f 
freedom  is  the  predominating  feature  which  marks 
and  distinguishes  the  whole :  and  as  an  ardent  is 
always  a  jealous  affection,  your  colonies  become 
suspicious,  restive,  and  untractable,  whenever  they 
see  the  least  attempt  to  wrest  from  them  by  force, 
or  shuffle  from  them  by  chicane,  what  they  think 
the  only  advantage  worth  living  for.  This  fierce 
spirit  of  liberty  is  stronger  in  the  English  colonies 
probably  than  in  any  other  people  of  the  earth  ;|and 
this  from  a  great  variety  of  powerful  causes; 
which,  to  understand  the  true  temper  of  their 
minds,  and  the  direction  which  this  spirit  takes,  it 
will  not  be  amiss  to  lay  open  somewhat  more 
largely. 

rL38]  First,  the  people  of  the  colonies  are  descendants 
of  Englishmen.  England,  Sir,  is  a  nation,  which 
still  I  hope  respects,  and  formerly  adored,  her 
freedom.  The  colonists  emigrated  from  you  when 
this  part  of  your  character  was  most  predominant ; 
and  they  took  this  bias  and  direction  the  moment 
they  parted  from  your  hands.  They  are  therefore 
not  only  devoted  to_liberty,  but  to  liberty  accord 
ing  to  English  ideas,  and  on  English  principles. 


48      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

Abstract  liberty,  like  other  mere  abstractions,  is 
not  to  be  found.  Liberty  inheres  in  some  sensible 
object ;  and  every  nation  has  formed  to  itself  some 
favourite  point,  which  by  way  of  eminence  becomes 
the  criterion  of  their  happiness.  It  happened,  you 
know,  Sir,  that  the  great  contests  for  freedom  in 
this  country  were  from  the  earliest  times  chiefly 
upon  the  Question  of  taxing.  Most  of  the  contests 
in  the  ancient  commonwealths  turned  primarily  on 
the  right  of  election  of  magistrates ;  or  on  the  bal 
ance  among  the  several  orders  of  the  state.  The 
question  of  money  was  not  with  them  so  imme 
diate.  But  in  England  it  was  otherwise.  On  this 
point  of  taxes  the  ablest  pens,  and  most  eloquent 
tongues,  have  been  exercised ;  the  greatest  spirits 
have  acted  and  suffered^  In  order  to  give  the  full 
est  satisfaction  concerning  the  importance  of  this 
point,  it  was  not  only  necessary  for  those  who  in 
argument  defended  the  excellence  of  the  English 
constitution,  to  insist  on  this  privilege  of  granting 
money  as  a  dry  point  of  fact,  and  to  prove,  that 
the  right  had  been  acknowledged  in  ancient 
parchments,  and  blind  usages,  to  reside  in  a  certain 
body  called  a  House  of  Commons.  They  went 
much  farther ;  they  attempted  to  prove,  and  they 
succeeded,  that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  so,  from 
the  particular  nature  of  a  House  of  Commons,  as  an 
immediate  representative  of  the  people;  whether 
the  old  records  had  delivered  this  oracle  or  not. 
They  took  infinite  pains  to  inculcate,  as  a  funda- 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  nON       19 

mental  principle,  that  in  all  monarchies  the  people 
must  in  effect  themselves,  mediately  or  immedi 
ately,  possess  the  power  of  granting  their  own 
money,  or  no  shadow  of  liberty  could  subsist. 
The  colonies  draw  from  you,  as  with  their  life- 
blood,  these  ideas  and  principles.  Their  love  of 
liberty,  as  with  you,  fixed  and  attached  on  this 
specific  point  of  taxing.  Liberty  might  be  safe,  or 
might  be  endangered,  in  twenty  other  particulars, 
without  their  being  much  pleased  or  alarmed. 
Here  they  felt  its  pulse ;  and  as  they  found  that 
beat,  they  thought  themselves  sick  or  sound.  I 
do  not  say  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong  in 
applying  your  general  arguments  to  their  own  case. 
It  is  not  easy  indeed  to  make  a  monopoly  of 
theorems  and  corollaries.  The  fact  is,  that  they 
did  thus  apply  those  general  arguments ;  and  your 
mode  of  governing  them,  whether  through  lenity 
or  indolence,  tlirough  wisdom  or  mistake,  con 
firmed  them  in  the  imagination,  that  they,  as  well 
as  you,  had  an  interest  in  these  common  principles. 
f39]  They  were  further  confirmed  in  this  pleasing 
error  by  the  form  of  their  provincial  legislative 
assemblies.  Their  governments  are  popular  in  a 
high  degree ;  some  are  merely  popular ;  in  all  the 
popular  representative  is  the  most  weighty;  and 
this  share  of  the  people  in  their  ordinary  government 
never  fails  to  inspire  them  with  lofty  sentiments, 
and  with  a  strong  aversion  from  whatever  tends  to 
deprive  them  of  their  chief  importance. 


30        BURKE'S  SPEECH   OX  CONCILIATION 

[40]  If  anything  were  wanting  to  this  necessary  opera 
tion  of  the  form  of  governmen^jreligion  would 
have  given  it  a  complete  effect.  Religion^  always 
a  principle  of  energy,  in  this  new  people  is  no  way 
worn  out  or  impaired ;  and  their  mode  of  professing 
it  is  also  one  main  cause  of  this  free  spirit.  The 
people  are  Protestants ;  and  of  that  kind  which  is 
the  most  adverse  to  all  implicit  submission  of  mind 
and  opinion.  This  is  a  persuasion  not  only  favour 
able  to  liberty,  but  built  upon  it.  I  do  not  think, 
Sir,  that  the  reason  of  this  averseness  in  the  dis 
senting  churches,  from  all  that  looks  like  absolute 
government,  is  so  much  to  be  sought  in  their  reli 
gious  tenets,  as  in  their  history.  Every  one  knows 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  at  least  coeval 
with  most  of  the  governments  where  it  prevails ; 
that  it  has  generally  gone  hand  in  hand  with  them, 
and  received  great  favour  and  every  kind  of  sup 
port  from  authority.  The  Church  of  England  too 
was  formed  from  her  cradle  under  the  nursing  care 
of  regular  government.  But  the  dissenting  inter 
ests  have  sprung  up  in  direct  opposition  to  all  the 
ordinary  powers  of  the  world;  and  could  justify 
that  opposition  only  on  a  strong  claim  to  natural 

/  -  liberty.  Their  very  existence  depended  on  the 
powerful  and  unremitted  assertion  of  that  claim. 
All  Protestantism,  even  the  most  cold  and  passive, 
is  a  sort  of  dissent.  But  the  religion  most  prev 
alent  in  our  northern  colonies  is  va  refinement  on 
the  principle  of  resistance ;  it  is  the  dissidence  of 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       5] 

dissent,  and  tne  Protestantism  of  the  Protestant 
religion.  This  religion,  under  a  variety  of  denomi 
nations  agreeing  in  nothing  but  in  the  communion 
of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  is  predominant  in  most  of 
the  northern  province? ;  where  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  notwithstanding  its  legal  rights,  is  in  reality 
no  more  than  a  sort  of  private  sect,  not  composing 
most  probably  the  tenth  of  the  people.  The 
colonists  left  England  when  this  spirit  was  high, 
and  in  the  emigrants  was  the  highest  of  all ;  and 
even  that  stream  of  foreigners,  which  has  been 
constantly  flowing  into  these  colonies,  has,  for  the 
greatest  part,  been  composed  of  dissenters  from  the 
establishments  of  their  several  countries,  and  have 
brought  with  them  a  temper  and  character  far 
from  alien  to  that  of  the  people  with  whom  they 
mixed. 

[41]  Sir,  I  can  perceive  by  their  manner,  that  some 
gentlemen  object  to  the  latitude  of  this  descrip 
tion  ;  because  in  the  southern  colonies  the  Church 
of  England  forms  a  large  body,  and  has  a  regular 
establishment.  It  is  certainly  true.  There  is, 
however,  a  circumstance  attending  these  colonies, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  fully  counterbalances  this 
difference,  and  makes  the  spirit  of  liberty  still  more 
high  and  haughty  than  in  those  to  the  northward. 
It  is,  that  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolines  they  have 
a  vast  multitude  of  slaves.  Where  this  is  the  case 
in  any  part  of  the  world,  those  who  are  free,  are 
by  far  the  most  proud  and  jealous  oftheir  freedom. 


52       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

Freedom  is  to  them  not  only  an  enjoyment,  but  a 
kind  of  rank  and  privilege.  Not  seeing  there, 
that  freedom,  as  in  countries  where  it  is  a  common 
blessing,  and  as  broad  and  general  as  the  air,  may 
be  united  with  much  abject  toil,  with  great 
misery,  with  all  the  exterior  of  servitude,  liberty 
looks,  amongst  them,  like  something  that  is  more 
noble  and  liberal.  I  do  not  mean,  Sir,  to  com 
mend  the  superior  morality  of  this  sentiment, 
which  has  at  least  as  much  pride  as  virtue  in  it ; 

U  but  I  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  man.  The  fact  is 
so ;  and  these  people  of  the  southern  colonies  are 
much  more  strongly,  and  with  a  higher  and  more 
stubborn  spirit,  attached  to  liberty,  than  those  to 
the  northward.  Such  were  all  the  ancient  com 
monwealths;  such  were  our  Gothic  ancestors; 
such  in  our  days  were  the  Poles ;  and  such  will  be 
all  masters  of  slaves,  who  are  not  slaves  themselves. 
In  such  a  people,  the  haughtiness  of  domination 
combines  with  the  spirit  of  freedom,  fortifies  it, 
and  renders  it  invincible. 

[42]  Permit  me,  Sir,  to  add  another  circumstance  in 
our  colonies,  which  contributes  no  mean  part 
towards  the  growth  and  effect  of  this  untractable 
spirit.  I  mean  their  education.  In  no  country 
perhaps  in  the  world  is  the  law  so  general  a  study. 
The  profession  itself  is  numerous  and  powerful; 
and  in  most  provinces  it  takes  the  lead.  The 
greater  number  of  the  deputies  sent  to  the  con 
gress  were  lawyers.  But  all  who  read,  and  most 


BURKE !S   SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION       53 

do  read,  endeavour  to  obtain  some  smattering  in 
that  science.  I  have  been  told  by  an  eminent 
bookseller,  that  in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after 
tracts  of  popular  devotion,  were  Rodman y  hooka-aa 
those  on  J&o  low-^exported  to  the  plantations. 
The  colonists  have  now  fallen  into  the  way  of 
printing  them  for  their  own  use.  I  hear  that  they 
have  sold  nearly  as  many  of  Blacks  tone's  Com 
mentaries  in  America  as  in  England.  General 
Gage  marks  out  this  disposition  very  particularly 
in  a  letter  on  your  table.  He  states,  that  all  the 
people  in  his  government  are  lawyers,  or  smatterers 
in  law ;  and  that  in  Boston  they  have  been  enabled, 
by  successful  chicane,  wholly  to  evade  many  parts 
of  one  of  your  capital  penal  constitutions.  The 
smartness  of  debate  will  say,  that  this  knowledge 
ought  to  teach  them  more  clearly  the  rights  of 
legislature,  their  obligations  to  obedience,  and  the 
penalties  of  rebellion.  All  this  is  mighty  well. 
But  my  honourable  and  learned  friend  on  the 
floor,  who  condescends  to  mark  what  I  say  for 
animadversion,  will  disdain  that  ground.  He  has 
heard,  as  well  as  I,  that  when  great  honours  and 
great  emoluments  do  not  win  over  this  knowledge 
to  the  service  of  the  state,  it  is  a  formidable 
adversary  to  government.  If  the  spirit  be  not 
tamed  and  broken  by  these  happy  methods,  it  is 
stubborn  and  litigious.  Abeunt  studio,  in  mores.1 

1  Pursuits  (or    studies)  pass    into    character. — Ovid, 
Heroides,  XV,  83,  Compare  Bacon  s  Essay  (Of  Studies"). 


54       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

This  study  renders  men  acute,  inquisitive,  dex 
terous,  prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence,  full  of 
rcsonrc-es.  In  other  countries,  the  people,  more 
simple,  and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast,  judge  of  an  ill 
principle  in  government  only  by  an  actual  griev 
ance;  here  they  anticipate  the  evil,  and  judge  of 
the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the  badness  of  the 
principle.  They  augur  misgovernment  at  a  dis 
tance  ;  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyranny  in  every 
tainted  breeze. 

[43]  The  last  cause  of  this  disobedient  spirit  in  the 
colonies  is  hardly  less  powerful  than  the  rest,  as  it 
is  not  merely  moral,  but  laid  deep  in  the  natural 
constitution  of  things.  Three  thousand  miles  of 
ocean  lie  between  you  and  them.  No  contrivance 
can  prevent  the  effect  of  this  distance  in  weaken 
ing  government.  Seas  roll,  and  months  pass, 
between  the  order  and  the  execution ;  and  the  want 
of  a  speedy  explanation  of  a  single  point  is  enough 
to  defeat  a  whole  system.  You  have,  indeed, 
winged  ministers  of  vengeance,  who  carry  your 
bolts  in  their  pounces  to  the  remotest  verge  of  the 
sea.  But  there  a  power  steps  in,  that  limits  the 
arrogance  of  raging  passions  and  furious  elements, , 
and  says,  "So  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther." 
Who  are  you,  that  should  fret  and  rage,  and  bite 
the  chains  of  nature? — Nothing  worse  happens  to 
you  than  does  to  all  nations  who  have  extensive 
empire ;  and  it  happens  in  all  the  forms  into  which 
empire  can  be  thrown.  In  large  bodies,  the  circu- 


lation  of  power  must  be  less  vigorous  at  the 
extremities.  Nature  has  said  it.  The  Turk  can 
not  govern  Egypt,  and  Arabia,  and  Curdistan,  as 
he  governs  Thrace ;  nor  has  he  the  same  dominion 
in  Crimea  and  Algiers,  which  he  has  at  Brusa  and 
Smyrna.  Despotism  itself  is  olfljgyl  fa  ^rnr^\  Ar}^ 
huckster.  TEe"  Sultan  gets  such  obedience  as  he 
can.  He  governs  with  a  loose. rein,  that  he  may 
govern  at  all;  and  the  whole  of  the  force  and 
vigour  of  his  authority  in  his  centre  is  derived  from 
a  prudent  relaxation  in  all  his  borders.  Spain,  in 
her  provinces,  is,  perhaps,  not  so  well  obeyed  as 
you  are  in  yours.  She  complies  too;  she  submits; 
she  watches  times  This  is  the  immutable  condi 
tion,  the  eternal  law,  of  extensive  and  detached 
empire. 

[44]  Then,  Sir,  from  these  six  capital  sources;  of 
descent ;  of  form  of  government ;  of  religion  in  the 
northern  provinces;  of  manners  in  the  southern; 
of  education ;  of  the  remoteness  of  situation  from 
the  first  mover  of  government;  from  all  these 
causes  a  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  has  grown  np.  It 
has  grown  with  the  growth  of  the  people  in  your 
colonies,  and  increased  with  the  increase  of  their 
wealth ;  a  spirit,  that  unhappily  meeting  with  an 
exercise  of  power  in  England,  which,  however  law 
ful,  is  not  reconcilable  to  any  ideas  of  liberty,  much 
less  with  theirs,  has  kindled  this  flame  that  is  ready 
to  consume  us. 

[45]      I  do  not  mean  to  commend  either  the  spirit  in 


56       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

this  excess,  or  the  moral  causes  which  produce  it. 
Perhaps  a  more  smooth  and  accommodating  spirit 
of  freedom  in  them  would  be  more  acceptable  to 
us.  Perhaps  ideas  of  liberty  might  be  desired, 
more  reconcilable  with  an  arbitrary  and  boundless 
authority.  Perhaps  we  might  wish  the  colonists  to 
be  persuaded,  that  their  liberty  is  more  secure 
when  held  in  trust  for  them  by  us  (as  their  guard 
ians  during  a  perpetual  minority)  than  with  any 
part  of  it  in  their  own  hands.  The  question  is, 

JT  ^»—  J •- — — „._  J^ 

not  whether  their  spirit  deserves  praise  or  blame, 
but — what,  in  the  name  of  God,  shall  we  do  with 
If?  You  have  before  you  the  object,  such  as  it  is, 
"  with  all  its  glories,  with  all  its  imperfections  on  its 
head.  You  see  the  magnitude;  the  importance; 
the  temper;  the  habits;  the  disorders.  By  all  these 
considerations  we  are  strongly  urged  to  determine 
something  concerning  it.  We  are  called  upon  to 
fix  dome  rule  and  line  for  our  future  conduct, 
which  may  give  a  little  stability  to  our  politics,  and 
prevent  the  return  of  such  unhappy  deliberations  as 
the  present.  Every  such  return  will  bring  the 
matter  before  us  in  a  still  more  untractable  form. 
For,  what  astonishing  and  incredible  things  have 
we  not  seen  already!  What  monsters  have  not 
been  generated  from  this  unnatural  contention! 
Whilst  every  principle  of  authority  and  resistance 
has  been  pushed,  upon  both  sides,  as  far  as  it 
would  go,  there  is  nothing  so  solid  and  certain, 
either  in  reasoning  or  in  practice,  that  has  not 


BURKES  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION       87 

been  shaken.  Until  very  lately,  all  authority  in 
America  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  an  emanation 
from  yours.  Even  the  popular  part  of  the  colony 
constitution  derived  all  its  activity,  and  its  first 
vital  movement,  from  the  pleasure  of  the  crown. 
We  thought,  Sir,  that  the  utmost  which  the  dis 
contented  colonists  could  do,  was  to  disturb 
authority;  we  never  dreamt  they  could  of  them- 
selvea  supply  it;  knowing  in  general  what  an 
operose  business  it  is  to  establish  a  government 
absolutely  new.  But  having,  for  our  purposes  in 
this  contention,  resolved,  that  none  but  an  obedient 
assembly  should  sit;  the  humours  of  the  people 
there,  finding  all  passage  through  the  legal  chan 
nel  stopped,  with  great  violence  broke  out  another 
way.  Some  provinces  have  tried  their  experi 
ment,  as  we  have  tried  ours;  and  theirs  has 
succeeded.  They  have  formed  a  government 
sufficient  for  its  purposes,  without  the  bustle  of  a 
revolution,  or  the  troublesome  formality  of  an 
election.  Evident  necessity,  and  tacit  consent, 
have  done  the  business  in  an  instant.  So  well 
they  have  done  it,  that  Lord  Dunmore  (the 
account  is  among  the  fragments  on  your  table) 
tells  you,  that  the  new  institution  is  infinitely 
better  obeyed  than  the  ancient  government  ever 
was  in  its  most  fortunate  periods.  Obedience  is 
what  makes  government ,  and  not  the  names  by 
which  it  is  called;  not  the  name  of  governor,  as 
formerly,  or  committee,  as  at  present.  This  new 


58       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

government  has  originated  directly  _frqm  tbe 
people;  and  was  not  transmitted  through  any  of 
the  ordinary  artificial  media  of  a.  positive  consti 
tution.  It  was  not  a  manufacture  ready  formed,  and 
transmitted  to  them  in  that  condition  from  Eng 
land.  The  evil  arising  from  hence  is  this;  that 
the  colonists  having  once  found  the  possibility  of 
enjoying  the  advantageToTorcTer  in  the  midst  of  a 
struggle  for  liberty,  such  struggles  will  not  hence 
forward  seemjBQ terriblejto  the  _  settled  and  sober 
part  of  mankind  as  they  had  appeared  before  the 
„  trial.  ' 

146]  Pursuing  the  same  plan  of  punishing  by  the 
denial  of  the  exercise  of  government  to  still  greater 
lengths,  we  wholly  abrogated  the  ancient  govern 
ment  of  Massachusetts.  We  were  confident  that 
the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very  prospect  of  anarchy, 
would  instantly  enforce  a  complete  submission. 
The  experiment  was  tried.  A  new,  strange,  unex 
pected  face  of  things  appeared.  Anarchy  is  found 
tolerable.  A  vast  province  has  now  subsisted,  and 
subsisted  in  a  considerable  degree  of  nealth  and 
vigour,  for  near  a  twelvemonth,  without  governor, 
without  public  council,  without  judges,  without 
executive  magistrates.  How  long  it  will  continue 
in  this  state,  or  what  may  arise  out  of  this  unheard- 
of  situation,  how  can  the  wisest  of  us  conjecture? 
Our  late  experience  has  taught  us  that  many  of 
those  fundamental  principles,  formerly  believed 
infallible,  are  either  not  of  the  importance  they 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION        59 

were  imagined  to  be;  or  that  we  have  not  at  all 
adverted  to  some  other  far  more  important  and  faf 
more  powerful  principles,  which  entirely  overrule 
those  we  had  considered  as  omnipotent.  J  am 
much  against  any  further  experiments,  which  tend 
to  put  to  the  proof  any  more  of  these  allowed 
opinions,  which  contribute  so  much  to  the  public 
tranquillity.  In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much  at  home 
by  this  loosening  of  all  ties,  and  this  concussion  of 
all  established  opinions,  as  wre  do  abroad.  For,  in 
order  to  prove  that  the  Americans  have  no  right  to 
their  liberties,  we  are  every  day  endeavouring  to 
subvert  the  maxims  which  preserve  the  whole  spirit 
of  our  own.  To  prove  that  the  Americans  ought 
not  to  be  free,  we  are  obliged  to  depreciate  the 
value  of  freedom  itself;  and  we  never  seem  to  gain 
a  paltry  advantage  over  them  in  debate,  without 
attacking  some  of  those  principles,  or  deriding 
Borne  of  those  feelings,  for  which  our  ancestors  have 

shed  their  bl 
—  — 

[47]      But,  Sir,  in  wishing  to  put  an  end  to 

experiments,  I  do  not  mean  to  preclude  the  fullest 
inquiry.  Far  from  it.  Far  from  deciding  on  a 
sudden  or  partial  view,  I  would  patiently  go  round 
and  round  the  subject,  and  survey  it  minutely  in 
every  possible  aspect.  Sir,  if  I  were  capable  of 
engaging  you  to  an  equal  attention,  I  would  state, 
that,  as  far  as  I  am  capable  of  discerning,  there 
are  but  three  ways  of  proceeding  relative  to  thia 
stubborn  spirit,  which  prevails  in  your  colonies, 

/          '  *  -L.    /  *         ) 

Lo>AtU    &U^Ta^rUiM   , 


•0      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

and  disturbs  your  government.  These  are — To 
Change  that  spirit,  as  inconvenient,  by  removing 
the  causes.  To  prosecute  it  as  criminal.  Or,  to 
comply  witfTit  as  necessary.  I  wouMTTot  be  guilty 
of  an  imperfect  enumeration;  I  can  think  of  but 
these  three.  Another  has  indeed  been  started,  that 
of  giving  up  the  colonies ;  but  it  met  so  slight  a 
reception,  that  I  do  not  think  myself  obliged  to 
dwell  a  great  while  upon  it.  It  is  nothing  but  a 
little  sally  of  anger,  like  the  frowardness  of  peevish 
children,  who,  when  they  cannot  get  all  they  would 
have,  are  resolved  to  take  nothing. 

148]  The  first  of  these  plans,  to  change  the  spirit  as 
inconvenient,  by  removing  the  causes,  I  think  is  the 
most  like  a  systematic  proceeding.  It  is  radical  in 
its  principle;  but  it  is  attended  with  great  diffi 
culties,  some  of  them  little  short,  as  I  conceive,  of 
impossibilities.  This  will  appear  by  examining 
into  the  plans  which  have  been  proposed. 

49]  As  the  growing  population  in  the  colonies  is  evi 
dently  one  cause  of  their  resistance,  it  was  last 
session  mentioned  in  both  Houses,  by  men  of 
weight,  and  received  not  without  applause,  that  in 
order  to  check  this  evil,  it  would  be  proper  for  the 
crown  to  make  no  further  grants  of  land.  But  to 
this  scheme  there  are  two  objections.  The  first, 
that  there  is  already  so  much  unsettled  land  in 
private  hands,  as  to  afford  room  for  an  immense 
future  population,  although  the  crown  not  only 
withheld  its  grants,  but  annihilated  its  soil.  If 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      61 

this  be  the  case,  then  the  only  effect  of  this  avarice 
of  desolation,  this  hoarding  of  a  royal  wilder 
ness,  would  be  to  raise  the  value  of  the  possessions 
in  the  hands  of  the  great  private  monopolists,  with 
out  any  adequate  check  to  the  growing  and  alarm 
ing  mischief  of  population. 

[50]  But  if  you  stopped  your  grants,  what  would  be 
the  consequence?  The  people  would  occupy . 
without  grants.  They  have  already  so  occupied  in 
many  places.  You  cannot  station  garrisons  in 
every  part  of  these  deserts.  If  you  drive  the  people 
from  one  place,  they  will  carry  on  their  annual 
tillage,  and  remove  with  their  flocks  and  herds  to 
another.  Many  of  the  people  in  the  back  settle 
ments  are  already  little  attached  to  particular  situ 
ations.  Already  they  have  topped  the  Appalachian 
mountains.  From  thence  they  behold  before  them 
an  immense  plain,  one  vast,  rich,  level  meadow;  a 
square  of  five  hundred  miles.  Over  this  they  would 
wander  without  a  possibility  of  restraint;  they 
would  change  their  manners  with  the  habits  of 
their  life;  would  soon  forget  a  government  by 
which  they  were  disowned ;  would  become  hordes 
of  English  Tartars ;  and  pouring  down  upon  your 
r.nfortified  frontiers  a  fierce  and  irresistible  cavalry, 
become  masters  of  your  governors  and  your  coun 
sellors,  your  collectors  and  comptrollers,  and  of  all 
the  slaves  that  adhered  to  them.  Such  would, 
and,  in  no  long  time,  must  be,  the  effect  of 
attempting  to  forbid  as  a  crime,  and  to  suppress  as 


62      BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

an  evil,  the  command  and  blessing  of  Providence, 
"Increase  and  multiply."  Such  would  be  the 
happy  result  of  an  endeavour  to  keep  as  a  lair  of 
wild  beasts,  that  earth,  which  God,  by  an  express 
charter,  has  given  to  the  children  of  men.  Far 
different,  and  "sTirely  much  wiser,  has  oeen  our 
policy  hitherto.  Hitherto  we  have  invited  our 
people,  by  every  kind  of  bounty,  to  fixed  establish 
ments.  We  have  invited  the  husbandman  to  look 
to  authority  for  his  title.  We  have  taught  him 
piously  to  believe  in  the  mysterious  virtue  of  wax 
and  parchment.  We  have  thrown  each  tract  of 
land,  as  it  was  peopled,  into  districts;  that  the 
ruling  power  should  never  be  wholly  out  of  sight. 
We  have  settled  all  we  could ;  and  we  have  care 
fully  attended  every  settlement  with  govern 
ment. 

[51]  Adhering,  Sir,  as  I  do,  to  this  policy,  as  well  as 
for  the  reasons  I  have  just  given,  I  think  this  new 
project  of  hedging-in  population  to  be  neither  pru 
dent  nor  practicable. 

[52]  To  impoverish  the  colonies  in  general,  and  in 
particular  to  arrest  the  noble  course  of  their  marine 
enterprises,  would  he  a  more  easy  task.  I  freely 
confess  it.  We  have  shown  a  disposition  to  a 
system  of  this  kind ;  a  disposition  even  to  continue 
the  restraint  after  the  offence ;  looking  on  ourselves 
as  rivals  to  our  colonies,  and  persuaded  that  of 
course  we  must  gain  all  that  they  shall  lose. 
Much  mischief  we  may  certainly  do.  The  power 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION      63 

inadequate  to  all  other  things  is  often  more  than 
sufficient  for  this.  I  do  not  look  on  the  direct  and 
immediate  power  of  the  colonies  to  resist  our 
violence  as  very  formidable.  In  this,  however,  I 
may  be  mistaken.  But  when  I  consider,  that  we 
have  colonies  for  no  purpose  but  to  be  serviceable 
to  us,  it  seems  to  my  poor  understanding  a  little 
preposterous,  to  make  them  unserviceable,  in  order 
to  keep  them  obedient.  It  is,  in  truth,  nothing 
more  than  the  old,  and,  as  I  thought,  exploded 
problem  of  tyranny,  which  proposes  to  beggar  its 
subjects  into  submission .  But  remember,  when  you 
have  completed  your  system  of  impoverishment, 
that  nature  still  proceeds  in  her  ordinary  course; 
that  discontent  will  increase  with  misery ;  and  that 
there  are  critical  molnenTs~in"tne  fortune  of  all 
states,  when  they  w^ho  are  too  weak  to  con 
tribute  to  your  prosperity,  may  be  strong  enpjigh 
to  complete  your  ruin.  Spoliatis  arma  super- 
sunt.1 

[53]  The  temper  and  character  which  prevail  in  our 
colonies  are,  I  am  afraid,  unalterable  by  any 
human  art.  We  cannot,  I  fear,  falsify  the  pedi 
gree  of  this  fierce  people,  and  persuade  them  that 
they  are  not  sprung  from  a  nation  in  whose  veins 
the  blood  of  freedom  circulates.  The  language  in 
which  they  would  hear  you  tell  them  this  tale 
would  detect  the  imposition;  your  speech  would 

1  Those  who  have  been  despoiled  may  still  resort  to 
a^ms,—  Juvenal,  Satires,  VIII,  12 J^ 


64       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

betray  you.  An  Englishman  is  the  unfittest  per 
son  on  earth  to  argue  another  Englishman  into 
slavery. 

[54]  I  think  it  is  nearly  as  little  in  our  power  to 
change  their  republican  religion,  as  their  free 
descent;  or  to  substitute  the  Roman  Catholic,  as  a 
penalty;  or  the  Church  of  England,  as  an  improve 
ment.  The  mode  of  inquisition  and  dragooning  is 
going  out  of  fashion  in  the  Old  World;  and  I 
should  not  confide  much  to  their  efficacy  in  the 
New.  The  education  of  the  Americans  is  also  on 
the  same  unalterable  bottom  with  their  religion. 
You  cannot  persuade  them  to  burn  their  books  of 
curious  science ;  to  banish  their  lawyers  from  their 
courts  of  laws ;  or  to  quench  the  lights  of  their 
assemblies,  by  refusing  to  choose  those  persons  who 
are  best  read  in  their  privileges.  It  would  be  no 
less  impracticable  to  think  of  wholly  annihilating 
the  popular  assemblies,  in  which  these  lawyers  sit. 
The  army,  by  which  we  must  govern  in  their  place, 
would  be  far  more  chargeable  to  us;  not  quite  so 
effectual;  and  perhaps,  in  the  end,  full  as  difficult 
to  be  kept  in  obedience. 

J55]  With  regard  to  the  high  aristocratic  spirit  of 
Virginia  and  the  southern  colonies,  it  has  been 
proposed  I  know  to  reduce  it,  by  declaring  a  gen 
eral  enfranchisement  of  their  slaves.  This  project 
has  had  its  advocates  and  panegyrists ;  yet  I  never 
could  argue  myself  into  any  opinion  of  it.  Slaves 
are  often  much  attached  to  their  mastery  A 


BfJRKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       65 

general  wild  offer  of  liberty  would  not  always  be 
accepted.  History  furnishes  few  instances  of  it. 
It  is  sometimes  as  hard  to  persuade  slaves  to  be 
free,  as  it  is  to  compel  freemen  to  be  slaves;  and 
in  this  auspicious  scheme,  we  should  have  both 
these  pleasing  tasks  on  our  hands  at  once.  But 
\vhen  we  talk  of  enfranchisement,  do  we  not 
perceive  that  the  American  master  may  enfranchise 
too ;  and  arm  servile  hands  in  defence  of  freedom? 
A  measure  to  which  other  people  have  had  recourse 
more  than  once,  and  not  without  success,  in  a 
desperate  situation  of  their  affairs. 

[56]  Slaves  as  these  unfortunate  black  people  are,  and 
dull  as  all  men  are  from  slavery,  must  they  not  a 
little  suspect  the  offer  of  freedom  from  that  very 
nation,  w^iich.  has  sold  them  to  their  present  mas 
ters?  from  that  nation  one  of  whose  causes  of  quar 
rel  with  those  masters  is  their  refusal  to  deal  any 
more  in  that  inhuman  traffic?  An  offer  of  freedom 
from  England  would  come  rather  oddly,  shipped 
to  them  in  an  African  vessel,  which  is  refused  an 
entry  into  the  ports  of  Virginia  or  Carolina, 
with  a  cargo  of  three  hundred  Angola  negroes. 
It  would  be  curious  to  see  the  Guinea  captain 
attempting  at  the  same  instant  to  publish  his 
proclamation  of  liberty,  and  to  advertise  his  sale 
of  slaves. 

[."">?]  But  let  us  suppose  all  these  moral  difficulties 
got  over.  The  ocean  remains.  Yon  cannot  pump 
this  dry ;  and  as  long  as  it  continues  in  its  present 


66       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

bed,  so  long  all  the  causes  which  weaken  authority 
by  distance  will  continue. 

Ye  gods,  annihilate  but  space  and  time, 
And  make  two  lovers  happy! 

y\ 

— was  a  pious  and  passionate  prayer ; — but  just  as 
reasonable,  as  many  of  the  serious  wishes  of  very 
grave  and  solemn  politicians. 

[58]  If  then,  Sir,  it  seems  almost  desperate  to  think 
of  any  alterative  course,  for  changing  .the.  moral 
causes  (and  not  quite  easy  to  remove  the  natural) 
which  produce  prejudices  irreconcilable  to  the  late 
exercise  of  our  authority;  but  that  the  spirit 
infallibly  will  continue ;  and,  continuing,  will  pro 
duce  such  effects  as  now  embarrass  us ;  the  second 
mode  under  consideration  is,  to  prosecute  that 
spirit  in  its  overt  acts,  as  criminal. 

[59]  At  this  proposition  I  must  pause  a  moment.  The 
thing  seems  a  great  deal  too  big  for  my  ideas  of 
jurisprudence.  It  should  seem  to  my  way  of  con 
ceiving  such  matters,  that  there  is  a  very  wide 
difference  in  reason  and  policy,  between  the  mode 
of  proceeding  on  their  regular  conduct  of  scattered 
individuals,  or  even  of  bands  of  men,  who  disturb 
order  within  the  state,  and  the  civil  dissensions 
which  may,  from  time  to  time,  on  great  questions, 
agitate  the  several  communities  which  compose  a 
great  empire.  It  looks  to  me  to  be  narrow  and 
pedantic,  to  apply  the  ordinary  ideas  of  criminal 
justice  to  this  great  public  contest.  I  do  not  know 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION       67 

the  method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a 
whole  people.  I  cannot  insult  and  ridicule  the 
feelings  of  millions  of  my  fellow-creatures,  as  Sir 
Edward  Coke  insulted  one  excellent  individual 
(Sir  Walter  Raleigh)  at  the  bar.  I  hope  I  am  not 
ripe  to  pass  sentence  on  the  gravest  public  bodies, 
intrusted  with  magistracies  of  great  authority  and 
dignity,  and  charged  with  the  safety  of  their 
fellow-citizens,  upon  the  very  same  title  that  I  am. 
I  really  think,  that  for  wise  men  this  is  not 
judicious;  for  sober  men,  not  decent;  for  minds 
tinctured  with  humanity,  not  mild  and  merciful 
[60]  Perhaps,  Sir,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea  of  an 
empire,  as  distinguished  from  a  single  state  or 
kingdom.  But  my  idea  of  it  is  this;  that  all 
empire  is  the  aggregate  of  many  states  under  one 
common  head;  whether  this  head  be  a  monarch,  or 
a  presiding  republic.  It  does,  in  such  constitu 
tions,  frequently  happen  (and  nothing  but  the 
dismal,  cold,  dead  uniformity  of  servitude  can 
prevent  its  happening)  that  the  subordinate  parts 
have  many  local  privileges  and  immunities. 
Between  these  privileges  and  the  supreme  common 
authority  the  line  may  be  extremely  nice.  Of 
course  disputes,  often,  too,  very  bitter  disputes, 
and  much  ill  blood,  will  arise,  but  though  every 
privilege  is  an  exemption  (in  the  case)  from  the 
ordinary  exercise  of  the  supreme  authority,  it  is  no 
denial  of  it.  The  claim  of  a  privilege  seems  rather, 
ex  vi  termini^  to  imply  a  superior  power.  For  to 


68       BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

talk  of  the  privileges  o^_a  state,  or  of  a  person,  who 
has  no  sirperior,  is  hardly  any  better  than  speaking 
nonsense.  Now,  in  such  unfortunate  quarrels 
among  the  component  parts  of  a  great  political 
union  of  communities,  I  can  scarcely  conceive  any 
thing  more  completely  imprudent,  than  for  the 
head  of  the  empire  to  insist,  that,  if  any  privilege 
is  pleaded  against  his  will,  or  his  acts,  his  whole 
authority  is  denied;  instantly  to  proclaim  rebel 
lion,  to  beat  to  arms,  and  to  put  the  offending  prov 
inces  under  the  ban.  Will  not  this,  Sir,  very  soon 
teach  the  provinces  to  make  no  distinctions  on 
their  part?  Will  it  not  teach  them  that  the 
government,  against  which  a  claim  of  liberty  is 
tantamount  to  high  treason,  is  a  government  to 
which  submission  is  equivalent  to  slavery?  It  may 
not  always  be  quite  convenient  to  impress  depend 
ent  communities  with  such  an  idea. 
[61]  We  are  indeed,  in  all  disputes  with  the  colonies, 
by  the  necessity  of  things,  the,  judge.  It  is  true, 
Sir.  But  I  confess,  that  the  character  of  judge  in 
my  own  cause  is  a  thing  that  frightens  me. 
Instead  of  filling  me  with  pride,  I  am  exceedingly 
humbled  by  it.  I  cannot  proceed  with  a  stern, 
assured,  judicial  confidence,  until  I  find  myself  in 
something  more  like  a  judicial  character.  I  must 
have  these  hesitations  as  long  as  I  am  compelled  to 
recollect,  that,  in  my  little  reading  upon  such 
contests  as  these,  the  sense  of  mankind  has,  at 
least,  as  often  decided  against  the  superior  as  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       69 

subordinate  power.  Sir,  Jet  me  add  too,  that  the 
opinion  of  my  having  some  abstract  right  in  my 
favour,  would  not  put  me  much  at  my  ease  in 
passing  sentence ;  unless  I  could  be  sure,  that  there 
were  no  rights  which,  in  their  exercise  under  cer 
tain  circumstances,  were  not  the  most  odious  of  all 
wrongs,  and  the  most  vexatious  of  all  injustice. 
Sir,  these  considerations  have  great  weight  with 
me,  when  I  find  things  so  circumstanced,  that  I 
see  the  same  party,  at  once  a  civil  litigant  against 
me  in  point  of  right,  and  a  culprit  before  me;  while 
I  sit  as  a  criminal  judge,  on  acts  of  his,  whose, 
moral  quality  is  to  be  decided  upon  the  merits  of 
that  very  litigation.  Men  are  every  now  and  then 
put,  by  the  complexity  of  human  affairs,  into 
strange  situations ;  but  justice  is  the  same,  let  the 
judge  be  in  what  situation  he  will. 
[62J  There  is,  Sir,  also  a  circumstance  which  con 
vinces  me,  that  tEIslnode  of  criminal  proceeding 
is  not  (at  least  in  the  present  stage  of  our  contest) 
altogether  expedient;  which  is  nothing  less  than 
thlfconcfuct  of  those  very  persons  who  have  seemed 
to  adopt  that  mode,  by  lately  declaring  a  rebellion 
in  Massachusetts  Bay,  as  they  had  formerly 
addressed  to  have  traitors  brought  hither,  under  an 
act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  for  trial.  For  though 
rebellion  is  declared,  it  is  not  proceeded  against  as 
such;  nor  have  any  steps  been  taken  towards  Uie 
apprehension  or  conviction  of  any  individual 
offender,  either  on  our  late  or  our  former  address ; 


70       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

but  modes  of  public  coercion  have  been  adopted, 
and  such  as  have  much  more  resemblance  to  a  sort 
of  qualified  hostility  towards  an  independent 
power  than  the  punishment  of  rebellious  subjects. 
All  this  seems  rather  inconsistent;  but  it  shows 
how  difficult  it  is  to  apply  these  juridical  ideas  to 
our  present  case. 

[63]  In  this  situation,  let  us  seriously  and  coolly 
ponder.  What  is  it  we  have  got  by  all  our 
menaces,  which  have  been  many  and  ferocious? 
What  advantage  have  we  derived  from  the  penal 
laws  we  have  passed,  and  which,  for  the  time, 
have  been  severe  and  numerous?  What  advances 
have  we  made  towards  our  object,  by  the  sending  of  a 
force,  which,  by  land  and  sea,  is  no  contemptible 
strength?  Has  the  disorder  abated?  Nothing 
less. — -When  I  see  things  in  this  situation,  after 
such  confident  hopes,  bold  promises,  and  active 
exertions,  I  cannot,  for  my  life,  avoid  a  suspicion, 
that  the  plan  itself  is  not  correctly  right. 

(64]  If  then  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  this  spirit  of 
American  liberty  be,  for  the  greater  part,  or  rather 
entirely,  impracticable;  if  the  ideas  of  criminal 
process  be  inapplicable,  or  if  applicable,  are  in  the 
highest  degree  inexpedient ;  what  way  yet  remains? 
No  way  is  open,  but  the  third  and  last — to  comply 
with  the  American  spirit  a&  T^flftaaftry ;  or,  if  you 
please,  to  submit  to  it  as  a  necessary  evil. 

(65]  If  we  adopt  this  mode ;  id;  we  mean  to  conciliate 
and  concede ;  let  us  see  of  what  nature  the  con- 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       7l 

cession  ought  to  be :  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  our 
concession,  we  must  look  at  their  complaint.  The 
colonies  complain,  that  they  have  not  the  char 
acteristic  mark  and  seal  of  British  freedom.  They 
complain,  that  they  are  taxed  in  a  parliament  in  ^ 
which  they  are  not  represented.  If  you  mean  to 
satisfy  them  at  all,  you  must  satisfy  them  with  re 
gard  to  this  complaint.  If  you  mean  to  please  any 
people,  you  must  give  them  the  boon  which  they 
ask ;  not  what  you  may  think  better  for  them,  but 
of  a  kind  totally  different.  Such  an  act  may  be  a 
wise  regulation,  but  it  is  no  concession:  whereas 
our  present  theme  is  the  mode  of  giving  satisfaction, 
(66]  Sir,  I  think  you  must  perceive,  that  I  am  resolvec 
this  day  to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the 
question  of  the  right  of  taxation.  Some  gentle 
men  startle — but  it  is  true ;  I  put  it  totally  out  of 
the  question.  It  is  less  than  nothing  in  my  con 
sideration.  I  do  not  indeed  wonder,  nor  will  you, 
Sir,  that  gentlemen  of  profound  learning  are  fond 
of  displaying  it  on  this  profound  subject.  But  my 
consideration  is  narrow,  confined,  and  wholly 
limited  to  the  policy  of  the  question.  I  do  not 
examine,  whether  the  giving  away  a  man's  money 
be  a  power  excepted  and  reserved  out  of  the  gen 
eral  trust  of  government ;  and  how  far  all  mankind, 
in  all  forms  of  polity,  are  entitled  to  an  exercise  of 
that  right  by  the  charter  of  nature.  Or  whether, 
on  the  contrary,  a  right  of  taxation  is  necessarily 
involved  in  the  general  principle  of  legislation,  and 


72       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION 

inseparable  from  the  ordinary  supreme  power. 
These  are  deep  questions,  where  great  names 
militate  against  each  other;  where  reason  is  per 
plexed  ;  and  an  appeal  to  authorities  only  thickens 
the  confusion.  For  high  and  reverend  authorities 
lift  up  their  heads  on  both  sides ;  and  there  is  no 
sure  footing  in  the  middle.  This  point  is  the 

great  Serbonian  bog, 
Betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount  Casius  old, 
Where  armies  whole  have  sunk. 

I  do  not  intend  to  be  overwhelmed  in  that  bog, 
though  in  such  respectable  company.  The  question 
with  me  is,  not  whether  you  have  a  right  to  render 
your  people  miserable;  but  whether  it  is  not  your 
interest  to  make  them  happy.  It  is  not,  what  a 
lawyer  tells  me  I  may  do ;  but  what  humanity,  rea 
son,  and  justice  tell  me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic 
act  che  worse  for  being  a  generous  one?  Is  no  con 
cession  proper,  but  that  which  is  made  from  your 
want  of  right  to  keep  what  you  grant?  Or  does  it 
lessen  the  grace  or  dignity  of  relaxing  in  the  exercise 
of  an  odious  claim,  because  you  have  your  evidence- 
room  full  of  titles,  and  your  magazines  stuffed  with 
arms  to  enforce  them?  What  signify  all  those 
titles,  and  all  those  arms?  Of  what  avail  are  they, 
when  the  reason  of  the  thing  tells  me,  that  the 
assertion  of  my  title  is  the  loss  of  my  suit ;  and 
that  I  could  do  nothing  but  wound  myself  by  the 
nse  of  my  own  weapons? 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION       73 

[67]  Such  is  steadfastly  my  opinion  of  the  absolute 
necessity  of  keeping  up  the  concord  of  this  empire 
by  a  unityj)f  spirit,  though  in  a  diversity  of  oper 
ations,  that,  if  I  were  sure  the  colonists  had,  at 
their  leaving  this  country,  sealed  a  regular  compact 
of  servitude;  that  they  had  solemnly  abjured  all 
the  rights  of  citizens ;  that  they  had  made  a  vow  to 
renounce  all  ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and  their 
posterity  to  all  generations ;  yet  I  should  hold 
myself  obliged  to  conform  to  the  temper  I  found 
universally  prevalent  in  my  own  day,  and  to  govern 
two  millions  of  men,  impatient  of  servitude,  on  the 
principles  of  freedom.  I  am  not  determining  a 
point  of  law;  I  am  restoring  tranquillity;  and  the 
general  character  and  situation  of  a  people  must 
determine  \hat  sort  of  government  is  fitted  for 
them.  That  point  nothing  else  can  or  ought  to 
determine. 

[68]  My  idea  therefore,  without  considering  whether 
we  yield  as  matter  of  right,  or  grant  as  matter  of 
favour,  is  to  n']^2LJ1}p  M(ti$P  nf  m/>'  colonies  into 
an  interest  in  the  constitution;  and,  by  recording 
that  admission  in  the  journals  of  parliament,  to 
give  them  as  strong  an,  assurance  as  the  nature  of 
the  thing  will  admit,  that  we  mean  for  ever  to 
adhere  to  that  solemn  declaration  of  systematic 
indulgence. 

[69]  Some  years  ago,  the  repeal  of  a  revenue  act, 
upon  its  understood  principle,  might  have  served 
to  show,  that  we  intended  an  unconditional  abate- 


74       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

ment  of  the  exercise  of  a  taxing  power.  Such  a 
measure  was  then  sufficient  to  remove  all  suspicion, 
and  to  give  perfect  content.  But  unfortunate 
events,  since  that  time,  may  make  something 
further  necessary;  and  not  more  necessary  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  colonies,  than  for  the 
dignity  and  consistency  of  our  own  future  pro 
ceedings. 

[70]  I  have  taken  a  very  incorrect  measure  of  the  dis 
position  of  the  House,  if  this  proposal  in  itself 
would  be  received  with  dislike.  I  think,  Sir,  we 
have  few  American  financiers.  But  our  misfortune 
is,  we  are  too  acute;  we  are  too  exquisite  in  our 
conjectures  of  the  future,  for  men  oppressed  with 
such  great  and  present  evils.  The  more  moderate 
among  the  opposers  of  parliamentary  concession 
freely  confess,  that  they  hope  no  good  from  taxa 
tion  ;  but  they  apprehend  the  colonists  have  further 
views ;  and  if  this  point  were  conceded,  they  would 
instantly  attack  t^e  trade  laws.  These  gentlemen 
are  convinced,  that  this  was  the  intention  from  the 
beginning ;  and  the  quarrel  of  the  Americans  with 
taxation  was  no  more  than  a  cloak  and  cover  to  this 
design.  Such  has  been  the  language  even  of  a 
gentleman  of  real  moderation,  and  of  a  natural 
temper  well  adjusted  to  fair  and  equal  government. 
I  am,  however,  Sir,  not  a  little  surprised  at  this 
kind  of  discourse,  whenever  I  hear  it;  and  I  am 
the  more  surprised,  on  account  of  the  arguments 
which  I  constantly  find  in  company  writh  it,  and 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       75 

which  are  often  urged  from  the  same  mouths,  and 
on  the  same  day. 

[71]  For  instance,  when  we  allege  that  it  is  against 
reason  to  tax  a  people  under  so  many  restraints  in 
trade  as  the  Americans,  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue 
riband  shall  tell  you,  that  the  restraints  on  trade 
are  futile  and  useless;  of  no  advantage  to  us,  and 
of  no  burthen  to  those  on  whom  they  are  imposed ; 
that  the  trade  to  America  is  not  secured  by  the  acts 
of  navigation,  but  by  the  natural  and  irresistible 
advantage  of  a  commercial  preference. 

[72]  Such  is  the  merit  of  the  trade  laws  in  this  posture 
of  the  debate.  But  when  strong  internal  circum 
stances  are  urged  against  the  taxes;  when  the 
scheme  is  dissected ;  when  experience  and  the  na 
ture  of  things  are  brought  to  prove,  and  do  prove, 
the  utter  impossibility  of  obtaining  an  effective 
revenue  from  the  colonies ;  when  these  things  are 
pressed,  or  rather  press  themselves,  so  as  to  drive 
the  advocates  of  colony  taxes  to  a  clear  admis 
sion  of  the  futility  of  the  scheme ;  then,  Sir,  the 
sleeping  trade  laws  revive  from  their  trance ;  and 
this  useless  taxation  is  to  be  kept  sacred,  not  for  its 
own  sake,  but  as  a  counter-guard  and  security  of 
the  laws  of  trade. 

[73]  Then,  Sir,  you  keep  up  revenue  laws  which 
are  mischievous,  in  order  to  preserve  trade  laws 
that  are  useless.  Such  is  the  wisdom  of  our  plan 
in  both  its  members.  They  are  separately  given 
upas  of  no  value;  and  yet  one  is  always  to  be 


76       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION 

defended  for  the  sake  of  the  other.  But  I  cannot 
agree  with  the  noble  lord,  nor  with  the  pamphlet 
from  whence  he  seems  to  have  borrowed  these 
ideas,  concerning  the  imitility  of  the  trade  laws. 
For,  without  idolizing  them,  I  am  sure  they  are  still, 
in  many  ways,  of  great  use  to  us:  and  in  former 
times  they  have  been  of  the  greatest.  They  do 
confine,  and  they  do  greatly  narrow,  the  market 
for  the  Americans.  But  my  perfect  conviction  of 
this  does  not  help  me  in  the  least  to  discern  how 
the  revenue  laws  form  any  security  whatsoever 
to  the  commercial  regulations;  or  that  these  com 
mercial  regulations  are  the  true  ground  of  the 
quarrel;  or  that  the  giving  way,  in  any  one 
instance,  of  authority,  is  to  lose  all  that  may 
remain  unconceded. 

[74]  One  fact  is  clear  and  indisputable.  The  public 
and  avowed  origin  of  this  quarrel  wjis  on  taxation. 
This  quarrel  has  indeed  brought  on  new  disputes 
on  new  questions;  but  certainly  the  least  bitter, 
and  the  fewest  of  all,  on^the^Jrade  laws.  To 
judge  which  of  the  two  be  the  real,  radical  cause 
of  quarrel,  we  have  to  see  whether  the  commercial 
dispute  did,  in  order  of  time,  precede  the  dispute 
on  taxation?  There  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence 
for  it.  Next,  to  enable  us  to  judge  whether  at 
this  moment  a  dislike  to  the  trade  laws  be  the  real 
cause  of  quarrel,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  put 
the  taxes  out  of  the  question  by  a  repeal.  See  how 
the  Americans  act  in  this  position,  and  then  you 


BURKE 'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION       77 

will  be  able  to  discern  correctly  what  is  the  true 
object  of  the  controversy,  or  whether  any  contro 
versy  at  all  will  remain.  Unless  you  consent  to 
remove  this  cause  of  difference,  it  is  impossible, 
with  decency,  to  assert  that  the  dispute  is  not  upon 
what  it  is  avowed  to  be.  And  I  would,  Sir,  recom 
mend  to  your  serious  consideration,  whether  it  be 
prudent  to  form  a  rule  for  punishing  people,  not 
on  their  own  acts,  but  on  your  conjectures  ? 
Surely  it  is  preposterous  at  the  very  best.  It  is 
not  justifying  your  anger,  by  their  misconduct; 
but  it  is  converting  your  ill-will  into  their  delin 
quency. 

[75]  But  the  colonies  will  go  further. — Alas!  alas! 
when  will  this  speculating  against  fact  and  reason 
end? — AVhat  will  quiet  these  panic  fears  which  we 
entertain  of  the  hostile  effect  of  a  conciliatory  con 
duct?  Is  it  true,  that  no  case  can  exist,  in  which 
it  is  proper  for  the  sovereign  to  accede  to  the 
desires  of  his  discontented  subjects?  Is  there  any 
thing  peculiar  in  this  case,  to  make  a  rule  for  itself? 
Is  all  authority  of  course  lost,  when  it  is  not 
pushed  to  the  extreme?  Is  it  a  certain  maximj 
that  the  fewer  causes  of  dissatisfaction  are  left  b7 
government,  the  more  the  subject  will  be  inclined 
to  resist  and  rebel? 

T76]  All  these  objections  being  in  fact  no  more  than 
suspicions,  conjectures,  divinations,  formed  in 
defiance  of  fact  and  experience ;  they  did  not,  Sir, 
discourage  me  from  entertaining  the  idea  of  a  con- 


78       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

dilatory  concession,  founded  on  the  principles 
which  I  have  just  stated. 

[77]  In  forming  a  plan  for  this  purpose,  I  endeavoured 
to  put  myself  in  that  frame  of  mind  which  was  the 
most  natural,  and  the  most  reasonable;  and  which 
was  certainly  the  most  probable  means  of  semiring 
me  from  all  error.  I  set  out  with  a  perfect  dis 
trust  of  my  own  abilities ;  a  total  renunciation  of 
every  speculation  of  my  own ;  and  with  a  profound 
reverence  for  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  who 
have  left  us  the  inheritance  of  so  happy  a  con 
stitution,  and  so  flourishing  an  empire,  and  what  is 
a  thousand  times  more  valuable,  the  treasury  of 
the  maxims  and  principles  which  formed  the  one, 
and  obtained  the  other. 

[78]  During  the  reigns  of  the  kings  of  Spain  of  the 
Austrian  family,  whenever  they  were  at  a  loss  in 
the  Spanish  councils,  it  was  common  for  their 
statesmen  to  say,  that  they  ought  to  consult  the 
genius  of  Philip  the  Second.  The  genius  of 
Philip  the  Second  might  mislead  them :  and  the 
issue  of  their  affairs  showed,  that  they  had  not 
chosen  the  most  perfect  standard.  But,  Sir,  I  am 
sure  that  I  shall  not  be  misled,  when,  in  a  case 
of  constitutional  difficulty,  I  consult  the  genius 
of  the  English  constitution.  Consulting  at  that 
oracle  (it  was  with  all  due  humility  and  piety)  I 
found  four  capital  examples  in  a  similar  case  before 
me;  those  of  Ireland,  Wales,  Chester,  and  Dur 
ham. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       79 

[79]  Ireland,  before  the  English  conquest,  though 
never  governed  by  a  despotic  power,  had  no  parlia 
ment.  How  far  the  English  parliament  itself  was 
at  that  time  modelled  according  to  the  present 
form,  is  disputed  among  antiquarians.  But  we 
have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  be  assured  that 
a  form  of  parliament,  such  as  England  then 
enjoyed,  she  instantly  communicated  to  Ireland; 
and  we  are  equally  sure  that  almost  every  suc 
cessive  improvement  in  constitutional  liberty,  as 
fast  as  it  was  made  here,  was  transmitted  thither. 
The  feudal  baronage,  and  the  feudal  knighthood, 
the  roots  of  our  primitive  constitution,  were  early 
transplanted  into  that  soil ;  and  grew  and  flourished 
there,  Magna  Charta,  if  it  did  not  give  us  origi 
nally  the  House  of  Commons,  gave  us  at  least  a 
House  of  Commons  of  weight  and  consequence. 
A/r  But  your  ancestors  did  not  chuxJishly  sit  down  alone 
/^to  the  feast  of  Magna  Charta.  Ireland  was  made 
immediately  a  partaker.  This  benefit  of  English 
laws  and  liberties,  I  confess,  was  not  at  first 
extended  to  all  Ireland.  Mark  the  consequence, 
English  authority  and  English  liberties  had 
exactly  the  same  boundaries.  Your  standard  could 
never  be  advanced  an  inch  before  your  privileges. 
Sir  John  Davis  shows  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the 
refusal  of  a  general  communication  of  these  rights 
was  the  true  cause  why  Ireland  was  five  hundred 
years  in  subduing ;  and  after  the  vain  projects  of 
a  military  government,  attempted  in  the  reign  of 


80       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

Queen  Elizabeth,  it  was  soon  discovered,  that  noth 
ing  could  make  that  country  English,  in  civility 
and  allegiance,  but  your  laws  and  your  forms  of 
legislature.  It  wa,s  not  Rnfrlisfa  flrrpsn  but  the 
English  constitution,  that  conquered  Ireland. 
From  that  time,  Ireland  has  ever  had  a  general 
parliament,  as  she  had  before  a  partial  parliament. 
You  changed  the  people ;  you  altered  the  religion ; 
but  you  never  touched  the  form  or  the  vital  sub 
stance  of  free -government  in  that  kingdom.  You 
deposed  kings ;  you  restored  them ;  you  altered  the 
succession  to  theirs,  as  well  as  to  your  own  crown ; 
but  you  never  altered  then-constitution ;  the 
principle  of  which  was  respected  by  usurpation; 
restored  with  the  restoration  of  monarchy,  and 
established,  I  trust,  for  ever,  by  the  glorious 
Revolution.  This  has  made  Ireland  the  great  and 
flourishing  kingdom  that  it  is;  and  from  a  dis 
grace  and  a  burthen  intolerable  to  this  nation,  has 
rendered  her  a  principal  part  of  our  strength  and 
ornament.  This  country  cannot  be  said  to  have 
ever  formally  taxed  her.  The  irregular  things  done 
in  the  confusion  of  mighty  troubles,  and  on  the 
hinge  of  great  revolutions,  even  if  all  were  done 
that  is  said  to  have  been  done,  form  no  example. 
If  they  have  any  effect  in  argument,  they  make 
an  exception  to  prove  the  rule.  Xone  of  your 
own  liberties  could  stand  a  moment  if  the  casual 
deviations  from  them,  at  such  times,  were  suffered 
to  be  used  as  proofs  of  their  nullity.  By  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       81 

lucrative  amount  of  such  casual  breaches  in  the 
constitution,  judge  what  the  stated  and  fixed  rule 
of  supply  has  been  in  that  kingdom.  Your  Irish 
pensioners  would  starve  if  they  had  no  other  fund 
to  live  on  than  taxes  granted  by_  English  authority. 
Turn  your  eyes  to  those  popular  grants  from  whence 
all  your  great  supplies  are  come;  and  learn  to 
respect  that  only  source  of  public  wealth  in  the 
British  empire.- 

(80]  My  next  example  is  Wales.  This  country  was 
said  to  be  reduced  by  Henry  the  Third.  It  was 
said  more  truly  to  be  so  by  Edward  the  First. 
But  though  then  conquered,  it  was  not  looked 
upon  as  any  part  of  the  realm  of  England.  Its 
old  constitution,  whatever  that  might  have  been, 
was  destroj^ed ;  and  no  good  one  was  substituted  in 
its  place.  The  care  of  that  tract  was  put  into  the 
hands  of  lords  marchers — a  form  of  government  of 
a  very  singular  kind;  a  strange  heterogeneous 
monster,  something  between  hostility  and  govern 
ment  ;  perhaps  it  has  a  sort  of  resemblance,  accord 
ing  to  the  modes  of  those  times,  to  that  of  com 
mander -in-chief  at  present,  to  whom  all  civil  power 
is  granted  as  secondary.  The  manners  of  the 
Welsh  nation  followed  the  genius  of  the  govern 
ment;  the  people  were  ferocious,  restive,  savage, 
and  uncultivated;  sometimes  composed,  never 
pacified.  Wales,  within  itself,  was  in  perpetual 
disorder ;  and  it  kept  the  frontier  of  England  in 
perpetual  alarm.  Benefits  from  it  to  the  state 


82       BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

there  were  none.     Wales  was  only  known  to  Eng 
land  by  incursion  and  invasion. 

[81]  Sir,  during  that  state  of  things,  parliament  was 
not  idle.  They  attempted  to  subdue  the  fierce 
spirit  of  the  Welsh  by  all  sorts  of  rigorous  laws. 
They  prohibited  by  statute  the  sending  all  sorts 
of  arms  into  Wales,  as  you  prohibit  by  proc 
lamation  (with  something  more  of  doubt  on  the 
legality)  the  sending  arms  to  America.  They  dis 
armed  the  Welsh  by  statute,  as  you  attempted  (but 
still  with  more  question  on  the  legality)  to  disarm 
New  England  by  an  instruction.  They  made  an 
act  to  drag  offenders  from  Wales  into  England  for 
trial,  as  you  have  done  (but  with  more  hardship) 
vnth  regard  to  America.  By  another  act,  where 
one  of  the  parties  was  an  Englishman,  they 
ordained,  that  his  trial  should  be  always  by  Eng-  • 
lish.  They  made  acts  to  restrain  trade,  as  you 
do ;  and  they  prevented  the  Welsh  from  the  use  of  . 
fairs  and  markets,  as  you  do  the  Americans  from 
fisheries  and  foreign  ports.  In  short,  when  the 
statute  book  was  not  quite  so  much  swelled  as  it  is 
now,  you  find  no  less  than  fifteen  acts  of  penal 
regulation  on  the  subject  of  Wales. 

[82]  Here  we  rub  our  hands — A  fine  body  of  prec 
edents  for  the  authority  of  parliament  and  the 
use  of  it! — I  admit  it  fully;  and  pray  add  likewise 
to  these  precedents,  that  alf  the  while,  Wales  rid 
this  kingdom  like  an  incubus;  that  it  was  an 
unprofitable  and  oppressive  burthen ;  and  that  an 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       83 

Englishman  travelling  in  that  country  could  not  go 
six  yards-  from  the  high  road  without  being 
murdered. 

[83]  The  march  of  the  human  mind  is  slow^  Sir,  it 
was  not,  until  after  two  hundred  years,  discovered, 
that,  by  an  eternal  law,  Providence  had  decreed  ^' 
vexation  to  violence,  and  poverty  to  rapine.  Your 
ancestors  did  however  at  length  open  their  eyes^ 
to  the  ill  husbandry  of  injustice.  They  found 
that  the  tyranny  of  a  free  people  could  of  call 
tyrannies  the  least  be  endured;  and  that  laws 
made  against  ITwhole  nation  were  not  the  most 
effectual  methods  for  securing  its  obedience. 
Accordingly,  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  Henry 
VIII.  the  course  was  entirely  altered.  With  a 
preamble  stating  the  entire  and  perfect  rights  of 
the  crown  of  England,  it  gave  to  the  Welsh  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  English  subjects.  A 
political  order  was  established ;  the  military  power 
gave  way  to  the  civil ;  the  marches  were  turned 
into  counties.  But  that  a  nation  should  have  a 
right  to  English  liberties,  and  yet  no  share  at  all 
in  the  fundamental  security  of  these  liberties — the 
grant  of  their  own  property — seemed  a  thing  so 
incongruous,  that,  eight  years  after,  that  is,  in 
the  thirty-fifth  of  that  reign,  a  complete  and  not 
ill-proportioned  representation  by  counties  and 
boroughs  was  bestowed  upon  Wales,  by  act  of  par 
liament.  From  that  moment,  as  by  a  charm,  the 
tumults  subsided,  obedience  was  restored,  peace, 


84      BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

order,  and  civilization  followed  in  the  train  of 
liberty. — When  the  day-star  of  the  English  con 
stitution  had  arisen  in  their  hearts,  all  was  harmony 
within  and  without — 

• — Simul  alba  nautis 

Stella  refulsit 

Defluit  saxis  agitatus  humor; 
Concidunt  venti,  fugiuntque  nubes, 
Et  minax  (qudd  sic  valuer e)  ponto 

Unda  recumbit.1 

|84]  The  very  same  year  the  county  palatine  of 
Chester  received  the  same  relief  from  its  oppres 
sions,  and  the  same  remedy  to  its  disorders. 
Before  this  time  Chester  was  little  less  distempered 
than  Wales.  The  inhabitants,  without  rights  them 
selves,  were  the  fittest  to  destroy  the  rights  of 
others;  and  from  thence  Richard  II.  drew  the 
standing  army  of  archers,  with  which  for  a  time 
he  oppressed  England.  The  people  of  Chester 
applied  to  parliament  in  a  petition  penned  as  I 
shall  read  to  you : 

IS.-)]  "To  the  king  our  sovereign  lord,  in  most  humble 
wise  shown  unto  your  excellent  Majesty,  the 
inhabitants  of  your  Grace's  county  palatine  of 
Chester ;  That  where  the  said  county  palatine  of 

1  As  soon  as  the  bright  star  has  shone  upon  the  sailors, 
the  troubled  water  recedes  from  the  rocks,  the  winds 
die  away,  the  clouds  scatter,  and,  because  they  [Castor 
and  Pollux]  have  so  willed,  the  threatening  wave  sub 
sides  upon  the  deep. — Horace,  Odes,  I.  xii,  $7-32. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      S5 

Chester  is  and  hath  been  always  hitherto  exempt, 
excluded  and  separated  out  and  from  your  high 
court  of  parliament,  to  have  any  knights  and 
burgesses  within  the  said  courb;  by  reason  whereof 
the  said  inhabitants  have  hitherto  sustained  mani 
fold  disherisons,  losses,  and  damages,,  as  well  in 
their  lands,  goods,  and  bodies,  as  in  the  good,  civil, 
and  politic  governance  and  maintenance  of  the. 
commonwealth  of  their  said  country:  (2)  And 
forasmuch  as  the  said  inhabitants  have  always 
hitherto  been  bound  by  the  acts  and  statutes 
made  and  ordained  by  your  said  Highness,  and  your 
most  noble  progenitors,  by  authority  of  the  said 
court,  as  far  forth  as  other  counties,  cities,  and 
boroughs  have  been,  that  have  had  their  knights 
and  burgesses  within  your  said  court  of  parliament, 
and  yet  have  had  neither  knight  ne  burgess  there 
for  the  said  county  palatine ;  the  said  inhabitants, 
for  lack  thereof,  have  been  oftentimes  touched  and 
grieved  with  acts  and  statutes  made  within  the 
said  court,  as  well  derogatory  unto  the  most 
ancient  jurisdictions,  liberties,  and  privileges  of 
your  said  county  palatine,  as  prejudicial  unto  the 
commonwealth,  quietness ,  rest.,  and  peace  of  your 
Grace's  most  bounden  subjects  inhabiting  withia 
the  same/' 

What  did  parliament  with  this  audacious  address? 
— Reject  it  as  a  libel?  Treat  it  as  an  affront  to 
government?  Spurn  it  as  a  derogation  from  the 
rights  of  legislature?  Did  they  toss  it  over  the 


86        BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON    CONCILIATION 

table?  Did  they  burn  it  by  the  hands  of  the 
common  hangman?  They  took  the  petition  of 
grievance,  all  rugged  as  it  was,  without  softening 
or  temperament,  unpurged  of  the  original  bitter 
ness  and  indignation  of  complaint ;  they  made  it  the 
very  preamble  to  their  act  of  redress ;  and  conse 
crated  its  principle  to  all  ages  in  the  sanctuary  of 
legislation. 

(87]  Here  is  my  third  example.  It  was  attended 
with  the  success  of  the  two  former.  Chester, 
civilized  as  well  as  Wales,  has  demonstrated  that 
freedom,  and  not  servitude,  is  the  cure  of  anarchy ; 
as  religion,  and  not  atheism,  is  the  true  remedy 
for  superstition.  Sir,  this  pattern  of  Chester  was 
followed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  with  regard  to 
the  county  palatine  of  Durham,  which  is  my 
fourth  example.  This  county  had  long  lain  out 
of  the  pale  of  free  legislation.  So  scrupulously 
was  the  example  of  Chester  ^followed,  that  the 
style  of  the  preamble  is  nearly  the  same  with  that 
of  the  Chester  act;  and,  without  affecting  the 
abstract  extent  of  the  authority  of  parliament,  it 
recognises  the  equity  of  not  suffering  any  consider 
able  district,  in  which  the  British  subjects  may  act 
as  a  body,  to  be  taxed  without  their  own  voice  in 
the  grant. 

[88]  Now  if  the  doctrines  of  policy  contained  in 
these  preambles,  and  the  force  of  these  examples 
in  the  acts  of  parliament,  avail  anything,  what 
can  be  said  against  applying  them  with  regard  to 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION        S? 

America?  Are  not  the  people  of  America  as  much 
Englishmen  as  the  Welsh?  The  preamble  of  the 
act  of  Henry  VIII.  says,  the  Welsh  speak  a 
language  no  way  resembling  that  of  his  Majesty's 
English  subjects.  Are  the  Americans  not  as 
numerous?  If  we  may  trust  the  learned  and 
accurate  Judge  Harrington's  account  of  Korth 
Wales,  and  take  that  as  a  standard  to  measure  the 
rest,  there  is  no  comparison.  The  people  cannot 
amount  to  above  200,000;  not  a  tenth  part  of  the 
number  in  the  colonies.  Is  America  in  rebellion? 
Wales  was  hardly  ever  free  from  it.  Have  you 
attempted  to  govern  America  by  penal  statutes? 
You  made  fifteen  for  Wales.  But  your  legislative 
authority  is  perfect  with  regard  to  America;  was 
it  less  perfect  in  Wales,  Chester,  and  Durham? 
But  America  is  virtually  represented.  What! 
does  the  electric  force  of  virtual  representation 
more  easily  pass  over  the  Atlantic,  than  pervade 
Wales,  which  lies  in  your  neighbourhood;  or  than 
Chester  and  Durham,  surrounded  by  abundance  of 
representation  that  is  actual  and  palpable?  But, 
Sir,  your  ancestors  thought  this  sort  of  virtual 
representation,  however  ample,  to  be  totally 
insufficient  for  the  freedom  of  the  inhabitants  of 
territories  that  are  so  near,  and  comparatively  so 
inconsiderable.  How  then  can  I  think  ifc  sufficient 
for  those  which  are  infinitely  greater,  and  infinitely 
more  remote? 
[89)  You  will  now,  Sir,  perliaps,  imagine,  that  I  am 


88        BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

on  the  point  of  proposing  to  you  a  scheme  for  a 
representation  of  the  colonies  in  parliament.  Per 
haps  I  might  be  inclined  to  entertain  some  such 
thought;  but  a  great  flood  stops  me  in  my  course. 
Opposuit  natural  —  I  cannot  remove  the  eternal 
barriers  qf  the  creation.  The  thing,  in  that 
mode,  I  do  not  know  to  be  possible.  As  I  med 
dle  with  no  theory,  I  do  not  absolutely  assert  the 
impracticability  of  such  a  representation.  But  I 
do  not  see  my  way  to  it  ;  and  those  who  have  been 
more  confident  have  not  been  more  successful. 
However,  the  arm  of  public  benevolence  is  not 
shortened;  and  there  are  often  several  means  to 
the  same  end.  What  nature  h 


way,  wisdom  may  unite  in  another.  When  we 
cannot  give  the  benefit  as  we  would  wish,  let  us 
not  refuse  it  altogether.  If  we  cannot  give  the 
principal,  let  us  find  a  substitute.  But  how? 
Where?  What  substitute? 

[90]  Fortunately  I  am  not  obliged  for  the  ways  and 
means  of  this  substitute  to  tax  my  own  unproduc 
tive  invention.  I  am  not  even  obliged  to  go  to 
the  rich  treasury  of  the  fertile  framers  of  imaginary 
i  commonwealths;  not  to  the  Eepublic  of  Plato; 
not  to  the  Utopia  of  More  ;  not  to  the  Oceana  of 
Harrington.  It  is  before  me  —  it  is  at  my  feet, 

—  and  the  rude  swain 
Treads  daily  on  it  with  his  clouted  shoon. 

Mature  has  opposed.  —  Juvenal,  Satires,  x,  152. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      89 

1  only  wish  you  to  recognise,  for  the  theory,  the 
ancient  constitutional  policy  of  this  kingdom  with 
regard  to  representation,  as  that  policy  has  been 
declared  in  acts  of  parliament;  and,  as  to  the 
practice,  to  return  to  that  mode  which  an  uniform 
experience  has  marked  out  to  you,  as  best;  and 
in  which  you  walked  with  security,  advantage, 
and  honour,  until  the  year  1763. 

191]  My  resolutions  therefore  mean  to  establish  the 
equity  and  justice  of  a  taxation  of  America,  by 
grant,  and  not  by  imposition.  To  mark  the  legal 
competency  of  the  colony  assemblies  for  the  support 
of  their  government  in  peace,  and  for  public  aids 
in  time  of  war.  To  acknowledge  that  this  legal 
competency  has  had  n.  dutjfi^  and  beneficial 
exerjise;  and  that  experience  has  shown  tFe 
benefit  o/  their  grants,  and  the  futility  of  par 
liamentary  taxation  as  a  method  of  supply. 

[92]  These  solid  truths  compose  six  fundamental 
propositions.  There  are  three  more  resolutions 
corollary  to  these.  If  you  admit  the  first  set,  you 
can  hardly  reject  the  others.  But  if  you  admit  the 
first,  I  shall  be  far  from  solicitous  whether  you 
accept  or  refuse  the  last.  I  think  these  six  mas 
sive  pillars  will  be  of  strength  sufficient  to  support 
the  temple  of  British  concord.  I  have  no  more 
doubt  than  I  entertain  of  my  existence,  that,  if  you 
admitted  these,  you  would  command  an  immediate 
peace;  and,  with  but  tolerable  future  manage 
ment,  a  lasting  obedience  in  America.  I  am  not 


90      BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

arrogant  in  this  confident  assurance.  The  propo 
sitions  are  all  mere  matters  of  fact ;  and  if  they  are 
such  facts  as  draw  irresistible  conclusions  even  in 
the  stating,  this  is  the  power  of  truth,  and  not  any 
management  of  mine. 

J93]  Sir,  I  shall  open  the  whole  plan  to  you,  together 
with  such  observations  on  the  motions  as  may  tend 
to  illustrate  them  where  they  may  want  explanation. 
The  first  is  a  resolution — "That  the  colonies  and 
plantations  of  Great  Britain  in  North  America, 
consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments,  and 
containing  two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  inhab 
itants,  have  not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of 
electing  and  sending  any  knights  and  burgesses,  or 
others,  to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of 
parliament." — This  is  a  plain  matter  of  fact, 
necessary  to  be  laid  down,  and  (excepting  the 
description)  it  is  laid  down  in  the  language  of  the 
constitution ;  it  is  taken  nearly  verbatim  from  acts 
of  parliament. 

[94]  The  second  ..is.  like .unto  the  first — "That  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations  have  been  liable  to, 
and  bounden  by,  several  subsidies,  payments,  rates, 
and  taxes,  given  and  granted  by  parliament, 
though  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have  not 
their  knights  and  burgesses  in  the  said  high  court 
of  parliament,  of  their  own  election,  to  represent  the 
condition  of  their  country ;  by  lack  whereof  they 
have  been  oftentimes  touched  and  grieved  by  sub 
sidies  given,  granted,  .and  assented  to,  in  the  said 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      91 

court,  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  common 
wealth,  quietness,  rest,  and  peace  of  the  subjects 
inhabiting  within  the  same." 

[95]  Is  this  description  too  hot,  or  too  cold,  too 
strong,  or  too  weak?  Does  it  arrogate  too  much  to 
the  supreme  legislature?  Does  it  lean  too  much 
to  the  claims  of  the  people?  If  it  runs  into  any  of 
these  errors,  the  fault  is  not  "mine.  It  is  the 
language  of  your  own  ancient  acts  of  parliament. 

Non  meus  hie  senno,  sed  quce  prcecepit  Ofellus, 
Rnsticus,  abnormis  sapiens.1 

It  is  the  genuine  produce  of  the  ancient,  rustic, 
manly,  home-bred  sense  of  this  country. — I  did 
not  dare  to  rub  off  a  particle  of  the  venerable  rust 
that  rather  adorns  and  preserves,  than  destroys, 
the  metal.  It  would  be  a  profanation  to  touch 
with  a  tool  the  stones  which  construct  the  sacred 
altar  of  peace.  I  would  not  violate  with  modern 
polish  the  ingenuous  and  noble  roughness  of  these 
truly  constitutional  materials.  Above  all  things, 
I  was  resolved  not  to  be  guilty  of  tampering :  the 
odious  vice  of  restless  and  unstable  minds.  I 
put  my  foot  in  the  tracks  of  our  forefathers,  where 
I  can  neither  wander  nor  stumble.  Determining 
to  fix  articles  of  peace,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be 
wise  beyond  what  was  written ;  I  was  resolved  to 
use  nothing  else  than  the  form  of  sound  words ;  to 

1  This  language  is  not  mine,  but  that  taught  by  Ofellus, 
a  rustic, but  unusually  wise. — Horace,  Satires,  II,  ii,  2,  3. 


92        BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON    CONCILIATION 

let  others  abound  in  their  own  sense;  and  care 
f ally  to  abstain  from  all  expressions  of  my  own. 
What  the  law  has  said,  I  say.  In  all  things  else  I 
am  silent.  I  have  no  organ  but  for  her  words. 
This,  if  it  be  not  ingenious,  I  am  sure  is  safe. 
[96]  There  are  indeed  words  expressive  of  grievance 
in  this  second  resolution,  which  those  who  are 
resolved  always  to  be  in  the  right  will  deny  to 
contain  matter  of  fact,  as  applied  to  the  present 
case;  although  parliament  thought  them  true, 
with  regard  to  the  counties  of  Chester  and 
Durham.  They  will  deny  that  the  Americans 
were  ever  " touched  and  grieved"  with  the  taxes. 
If  they  consider  nothing  in  taxes  but  their  weight 
as  pecuniary  impositions,  there  might  be  some 
pretence  for  this  denial.  But  men  may  be  sorely 
touched  and  deeply  grieved  in  their  privileges,  as 
well  as  in  their  purses.  Men  may  lose  little  in 
property  by  the  act  which  takes  away  all  their 
freedom.  \Vhen  a  man  is  robbed  of  a  trifle  on 
the  highway,  it  is  not  the  two-pence  lost  that  con 
stitutes  the  capital  outrage.  This  is  not  confined 
to  privileges.  Even  ancient  indulgences  with 
drawn,  without  offence,  on  the  part  of  those  who 
enjoyed  such  favours,  openate  as  grievances.  But 
were  the  Americans  then  not  touched  and  grieved 
by  the  taxes,  in  some  measure,  merely  as  taxes? 
If  so,  why  were  they  almost  all  either  wholly 
repealed  or  exceedingly  reduced?  Were  they  not 
touched  and  grieved  even  by  the  regulating  duties  of 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      93 

the  sixth  of  George  II.?  Else  why  were  the  duties 
first  reduced  to  one-third  in  17G4,  and  afterwards 
to  a  third  of  that  third  in  the  year  17GG?  Were 
they  not  touched  and  grieved  by  the  stamp  act? 
I  shall  say  they  were,  until  that  tax  is  revived. 
Were  they  not  touched  and  grieved  by  the  dutiu 
of  1767,  which  were  likewise  repealed,  and  which. 
Lord  Hillsborough  tells  you  (for  the  ministry) 
were  laid  contrary  to  the  true  principle  of  com 
merce?  Is  not  the  assurance  given  by  that  noble 
person  to  the  colonies  of  a  resolution  to  lay  no 
more  taxes  on  them,  an  admission  that  taxes  would 
touch  and  grieve  them?  Is  not  the  resolution  of 
the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  riband,  now  standing  on 
your  journals,  the  strongest  of  all  proofs  that 
parliamentary  subsidies  really  touched  and  grieved  • 
them?  Else  why  all  these  changes,  modifications, 
repeals,  assurances,  and  resolutions? 

[97]  The  next  proposition  is — "That  from  the  dis 
tance  of  the  said  colonies,  and  from  other  circum 
stances,  no  method  hath  hitherto  been  devised  for 
procuring  a  representation  in  parliament  for  the 
said  colonies."  This  is  an  assertion  of  a  fact.  I 
go  no  further  on  the  paper;  though,  in  my  private 
judgment,  an  useful  representation  is  impossible; 
I  am  sure  it  is  not  desired  by  them ;  nor  ought  it 
perhaps  by  us;  but  I  abstain  from  opinions „ 

[98]  The  fourth  resolution  is— "That  each  of  the  said 
colonies  hath  within  itself  a  body,  chosen  in  part,  or 
in  the  whole,  by  the  freemen,  freeholders,  or  other 


94      BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

free  inhabitants  thereof,  commonly  called  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly,  or  General  Court ;  with  powers  legally 
to  raise,  levy,  and  assess,  according  to  the  several 
usage  of  such  colonies,  duties  and  taxes  towards 
defraying  all  sorts  of  public  services." 
[99]  This  competence  in  the  colony  assemblies  is 
certain.  It  is  proved  by  the  whole  tenor  of  their 
acts  of  supply  in  all  the  assemblies,  in  which  the 
constant  style  of  granting  is,  "an  aid  to  his 
Majesty;"  and  acts  granting  to  the  crown  have 
regularly  for  near  a  century  passed  the  public 
offices  without  dispute.  Those  who  have  been 
pleased  paradoxically  to  deny  this  right,  holding 
that  none  but  the  British  parliament  can  grant  to 
the  crown,  are  wished  to  look  to  what  is  done,  not 
only  in  the  colonies,  but  in  Ireland,  in  one  uni 
form  unbroken  tenor  every  session.  Sir,  I  am 
surprised  that  this  doctrine  should  come  from  some 
of  the  law  servants  of  the  crown,  I  say,  that  if 
the  crown  could  be  responsible,  his  Majesty — but 
certainly  the  ministers,  and  even  these  law  officers 
themselves,  through  whose  hands  the  acts  pass 
biennially  in  Ireland,  or  annually  in  the  colonies, 
are  in  an  habitual  course  of  committing  impeach- 
able  offences.  What  habitual  offenders  have  been 
all  presidents  of  the  council,  all  secretaries  of  state, 
all  first  lords  of  trade,  all  attorneys  and  all  solicitors 
general !  However,  they  are  safe ;  as  no  one  impeaches 
them;  and  there  is  no  ground  of  charge  against 
them,  except  in  their  own  unfounded  theories. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       06 

f  100 J  The  fifth  resolution  is  also  a  resolution  of  fact— 
"That  the  said  general  assemblies,  general  courts, 
or  other  bodies  legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have 
at  sundry  times  freely  granted  several  large  sub 
sidies  and  public  aids  for  his  Majesty's  service, 
according  to  their  abilities,  when  required  thereto 
by  letter  from  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  secre 
taries  of  state ;  and  that  their  right  to  grant  the 
same,  and  their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency  in  the 
said  grants,  have  been  at  sundry  times  acknowledged 
by  parliament.''  To  say  nothing  of  their  great 
expenses  in  the  Indian  wars ;  and  not  to  take  their 
exertion  in  foreign  ones,  so  high  as  the  supplies  in 
the  year  1695;  not  to  go  back  to  their  public  con 
tributions  in  the  year  1710;  I  shall  begin  to  travel 
only  where  the  journals  give  me  light ;  resolving 
to  deal  in  nothing  but  fact,  authenticated  by 
parliamentary  record ;  and  to  build  myself  wholly 
on  that  solid  basis. 

101]  On  the  4th  of  April,  1748,  a  committee  of  this 
House  came  to  the  following  resolution : 

"Resolved, 

"That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  That 
it  is  just  and  reasonable  that  the  several  provinces 
and  colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Kew  Hamp 
shire,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  be  reim 
bursed  the  expenses  they  have  been  at  in  taking 
and  securing  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton  and  its  dependencies." 
flOSJ  These  expenses  were  immense  for  such  colonies 


96      BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

They  were  above  £200,000  sterling;  money  first 
raised  and  advanced  on  their  public  credit. 
[103]  On  the  28th  of  January,  1756,  a  message  from 
.  the  king  came  to  us,  to  this  effect — "His  Majesty, 
being  sensible  of  the  zeal  and  vigour  with  which 
his  faithful  subjects  of  certain  colonies  in  North 
America  have  exerted  themselves  in  defence  of  his 
Majesty's  just  rights  and  possessions,  recommends 
it  to  this  House  to  take  the  same  into  their  con 
sideration,  and  to  enable  his  Majesty  to  give  them 
such  assistance  as  may  be  a  proper  reward  and 
encouragement.'" 

f  104]     On  the  third  of  February,  1756,  the  House  came 
to  a  suitable  resolution,  expressed  in  words  nearly 
the  same  as  those  of  the  message:  but  with  the 
further  addition,  that  the  money  then  voted  was 
an  encouragement  to  the  colonies  to  exert  them 
selves  with  vigour.     It  will  not  be  necessary  to  go 
through  all  the  testimonies  which  your  own  records 
have  given  to  the  truth  of  my  resolutions,  I  will 
only  refer  you  to  the  places  in  the  journals : 
Vol.  xxvii.— 16th  and  19th  May,  1757. 
Vol.  xxviii. — June    1st,   1758— April  26th   and 
30th,  1759— March  26th  and  31st, 
and  April    28th,   1760— Jan.   9th 
and  20th,  1761. 
Vol.  xxix.—  Jan.  22nd  and  26th,  1762— March 

14th  and  17th,  1763. 

£1051     Sir,   here  is  the   repeated    acknowledgment   of 
parliament,  that  the  colonies  not  only  gave,   but 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      07 

gave  to  satiety.  This  nation  has  formally 
acknowledged  two  things;  first,  that  the  colonies 
had  gone  beyond  their  abilities,  parliament  having 
thought  it  necessary  to  reimburse  them ;  secondly, 
that  they  had  acted  legally  and  laudably  in  their 
grants  of  money,  and  their  maintenance  of  troops, 
since  the  compensation  is  expressly  given  as  reward 
and  encouragement.  Reward  is  not  bestowed  for 
acts  that  are  unlawful ;  and  encouragement  is  not 
held  out  to  things  that  deserve  reprehension.  My 
resolution  therefore  does  nothing  more  than  col 
lect  into  one  proposition,  what  is  scattered  through 
your  journals.  I  give  you  nothing  but  your  own; 
and  you  cannot  refuse  in  the  gross,  what  you  have 
so  often  acknowledged  in  detail.  The  admission  of 
this,  which  will  be  so  honourable  to  them  and  to 
you,  will,  indeed,  be  mortal  to  all  the  miserable 
stories,  by  which  the  passions  of  the  misguided 
people  have  been  engaged  in  an  unhappy  system 
The  people  heard,  indeed,  from  the  beginning  of 
these  disputes,  one  thing  continually  dinned  in 
their  ears,  that  reason  and  justice  demanded,  that 
the  Americans,  who  paid  no  taxes,  should  be  com 
pelled  to  contribute.  How  did  that  fact,  of  their 
paying  nothing,  stand,  when  the  taxing  system 
began?  When  Mr.  Grenville  began  to  form  his 
system  of  American  revenue,  he  stated  in  this 
House,  that  the  colonies  were  then  in  debt  two 
million  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling 
money ;  and  was  of  opinion  they  would  discharge 


98      BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

that  debt  in  four  years.  On  this  state,  those 
untaxed  people  were  actually  subject  to  the  pay 
ment  of  taxes  to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  a  year.  In  fact,  however,  Mr. 
Grenville  was  mistaken.  The  funds  given  for 
sinking  the  debt  did  not  prove  quite  so  ample  as 
both  the  colonies  and  he  expected.  The  calcula 
tion  was  too  sanguine ;  the  reduction  was  not  com 
pleted  till  some  years  after,  and  at  different  times 
in  different  colonies.  However,  the  taxes  after  the 
war  continued  too  great  to  bear  any  addition,  with 
prudence  or  propriety ;  and  when  the  burthens  im 
posed  in  consequence  of  former  requisitions  were 
discharged,  our  tone  became  too  high  to  resort  again 
to  requisition.  No  colony,  since  that  time,  ever 
has  had  any  requisition  whatsoever  made  to  it. 

We  see  the  sense  of  the  crown,  and  the  sense  of 
^parliament,  on  the  productive  nature  of  a  revenue 
by  grant.  Now  search  the  same  journals  for  the 
produce  of  the  revenue  ~by  imposition — Where  is 
it? — let  us  know  the  volume  and  the  page — what  is 
the  gross,  what  is  the  net  produce? — to  what 
service  is  it  applied? — how  have  you  appropriated 
its  surplus? — What,  can  none  of  the  many  skilful 
index-makers  that  we  are  now  employing,  find  any 
trace  of  it? — Well,  let  them  and  that  rest  together. 
— But  are  the  journals,  which  say  nothing  of  the 
revenue,  as  silent  on  the  discontent? — Oh,  no!  a 
child  may  find  it.  It  is  the  melancholy  burthen 
and  blot  of  every  page. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION       90 

ti07]  I  think  then  I  am,  from  those  journals,  justified 
in  the  sixth  and  last  resolution,  which  is — "That 
it  hath  been  found  by  experience,  that  the  manner^ 
of  granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids,  by  the  said 
general  assemblies,  hath  been  more  agreeable  to  the 
said  colonies,  and  more  beneficial,  and  conducive 
to  the  public  service,  than  the  mode  of  giving  and 
granting  aids  in  parliament,  to  be  raised  and  paid  in 
the  said  colonies."  This  makes  the  whole  of  the 
fundamental  part  of  the  plan.  The  conclusion  is 
irresistible.  You  cannot  say,  that  you  were  driven 
by  any  necessity  to  an  exercise  of  the  utmost  rights 
of  legislature.  You  cannot  assert,  that  you  took 
on  yourselves  the  task  of  imposing  colony  taxes, 
from  the  want  of  another  legal  body,  that  is  com 
petent  to  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  exigencies 
of  the  state  without  wounding  the  prejudices  of  the 
people.  Neither  is  it  true  that  the  body  so  quali 
fied,  and  having  that  competence,  had  neglected 
the  duty. 

[108]  The  question  now,  on  all  this  accumulated 
matter,  is ; — whether  you  will  choose  to  abide  by  a 
profitable  experience,  or  a  mischievous  theory; 
whether  you  choose  to  build  on  imagination,  or 
fact;  whether  you  prefer  enjoyment,  or  hope; 
satisfaction  in  your  subjects,  or  discontent? 

[109J  If  these  propositions  are  accepted,  everything 
which  has  been  made  to  enforce  a  contrary  system, 
must,  I  take  it  for  granted,  fall  along  with  it. 
On  that  ground,  I  have  drawn  the  following  resolu- 


100     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

tion,  which,  when  it  comes  to  be  moved,  will 
naturally  be  divided  in  a  proper  manner:  "That  it 
may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty, 
intituled,  An  act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the 
British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America;  for 
allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of  customs  upon 
the  exportation  from  this  kingdom,  of  coifee  and 
cocoa-nuts  of  the  produce  of  the  said  colonies  or 
plantations ;  for  discontinuing  the  drawbacks  pay 
able  on  China  earthenware  exported  to  America; 
and  for  more  effectually  preventing  the  clandestine 
running  of  goods  in  the  said  colonies  and  planta 
tions. — And  that  it  maybe  proper  to  repeal  an  act, 
made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his 
present  Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  to  discontinue, 
in  such  manner,  and  for  such  time,  as  are  therein 
mentioned,  the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or 
shipping,  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  at  the 
town  and  within  the  harbour  of  Boston,  in  the 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America. 
—And  that  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for  the  impartial  admin 
istration  of  justice,  in  the  cases  of  persons  ques 
tioned  for  any  acts  done  by  them,  in  the  execution 
of  the  law,  or  for  the  suppression  of  riots  and 
tumults,  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in 
New  England. — And  that  it  may  be  proper  to 
repeal  an  act,  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     101 

reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for 
the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  prov 
ince  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England. — 
And,  also,  that  it  may  be  proper  to  explain  and 
amend  an  act,  made  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the 
reign  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  intituled,  An  act 
for  the  trial  of  treasons  committed  out  of  the 
king's  dominions." 

[110]  I  wish,  Sir,  to  repeal  the  Boston  Port  Bill, 
because  (independently  of  the  dangerous  precedent 
of  suspending  the  rights  of  the  subject  during  the 
king's  pleasure)  it  was  passed,  as  I  apprehend, 
with  less  regularity,  and  on  more  partial  principles, 
than  it  ought.  The  coiporation  of  Boston  was  not 
heard  before  it  was  condemned.  Other  towns, 
full  as  guilty  as  she  was,  have  not  had  their  ports 
blocked  up.  Even  the  restraining  bill  of  the 
present  session  does  not  go  to  the  length  of  the 
Boston  Port  Act.  The  same  ideas  of  prudence, 
which  induced  you  not  to  extend  equal  punishment 
to  equal  guilt,  even  when  you  were  punishing, 
induced  me,  who  mean  not  to  chastise,  but  to 
reconcile,  to  be  satisfied  with  the  punishment 
already  partially  inflicted. 

[Ill]  Ideas  of  prudence  and  accommodation  to  cir 
cumstances,  prevent  you  from  taking  away  the 
charters  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  as  you 
have  taken  away  that  of  Massachusetts  colony, 
though  the  crown  has  far  less  power  in  the  two 
former  provinces  than  it  enjoyed  in  the  latter ;  and 


102     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

though  the  abuses  have  been  full  as  great,  and  as 
flagrant,  in  the  exempted  as  in  the  punished.  The 
same  reasons  of  prudence  and  accommodation  have 
weight  with  me  in  restoring  the  charter  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay.  Besides,  Sir,  the  act  which  changes 
the  charter  of  Massachusetts  is  in  many  particulars 
so  exceptionable,  that  if  I  did  not  wish  absolutely 
to  repeal,  I  would  by  all  means  desire  to  alter  it ; 
as  several  of  its  provisions  tend  to  the  subversion 
of  all  public  and  private  justice.  Such,  among 
others,  is  the  power  in  the  governor  to  change  the 
sheriff  at  his  pleasure ;  and  to  make  a  new  return 
ing  officer  for  every  special  cause.  It  is  shameful 
to  behold  such  a  regulation  standing  among  English 
laws. 

fllS)  The  act  for  bringing  persons  accused  of  commit 
ting  murder  under  the  orders  of  government  to 
England  for  trial  is  but  temporary.  That  act  has 
calculated  the  probable  duration  of  our  quarrel 
with  the  colonies;  and  is  accommodated  to  that 
supposed  duration,  I  would  hasten  the  happy 
moment  of  reconciliation ;  and  therefore  must,  on 
my  principle,  get  rid  of  that  most  justly  obnoxious 
act. 

HIS]  The  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  for  the  trial  of 
treasons,  I  do  not  mean  to  take  away,  but  to  con 
fine  it  to  its  proper  bounds  and  original  intention ; 
to  make  it  expressly  for  trial  of  treasons  (and  the 
greatest  treasons  may  be  committed)  in  places 
where  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown  does  not  extend. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     103 

(114]  Having  guarded  the  privileges  of  local  legisla 
ture,  I  would  next  secure  to  the  colonies  a  fair  and 
unbiassed  judicature;  for  which  purpose,  Sir,  I 
propose  the  following  resolution:  "That,  from  the 
time  when  the  general  assembly  or  general  court  of 
any  colony  or  plantation  in  North  America,  shall 
have  appointed  by  act  of  assembly,  duly  confirmed, 
a  settled  salary  to  the  offices  of  the  chief  justice 
and  other  judges  of  the  superior  court,  it  may  be 
proper  that  the  said  chief  justice  and  other  judges 
of  the  superior  courts  of  such  colony,  shall  hold 
his  and  their  office  and  offices  during  their  good 
behaviour ;  and  shall  not  be  removed  therefrom, 
but  when  the  said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by 
his  Majesty  in  council,  upon  a  hearing  on  com 
plaint  from  the  general  assembly,  or  on  a  complaint 
from  the  governor,  or  council,  or  the  house  of  rep 
resentatives  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which  the 
said  chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised 
the  said  offices." 

[115]  The  next  resolution  relates  to  the  courts  of 
admiralty.  It  is  this: — {'That  it  may  be  proper 
to  regulate  the  courts  of  admiralty,  or  vice- 
admiralty,  authorized  by  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
the  fourth  of  George  the  Third,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  make  the  same  more  commodious  to  those 
who  sue,  or  are  sued,  in  the  said  courts,  and  to 
"provide  for  the  more  decent  maintenance  of  the 
judges  in  the  same." 

fH6»     These  courts  I  do  not  wish  to  take  away;  they 


104     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

are  in  themselves  proper  establishments.  This 
court  is  one  of  the  capital  securities  of  the  act  of 
navigation.  The  extent  of  its  jurisdiction,  indeed, 
has  been  increased;  but  this  is  altogether  as 
proper,  and  is  indeed  on  many  accounts  more 
eligible,  where  new  powers  were  wanted,  than  a 
court  absolutely  new.  But  courts  incommodiously 
situated,  in  effect,  deny  justice ;  and  a  court,  par 
taking  in  the  fruits  of  its  own  condemnation,  is  a 
robber.  The  congress  complain,  and  complain 
justly,  of  this  grievance. 

O17J  These  are  the  three  consequential  propositions. 
I  have  thought  of  two  or  three  more;  but  they 
come  rather  too  near  detail,  and  to  the  province  of 
executive  government;  which  I  wish  parliament 
always  to  superintend,  never  to  assume.  If  the 
first  six  are  granted,  congruity  will  carry  the  latter 
three.  If  not,  the  things  that  remain  unrepealed 
will  be,  I  hope,  rather  unseemly  encumbrances  on 
the  building,  than  very  materially  detrimental  to 
its  strength  and  stability. 

[118]  Here,  Sir,  I  should  close ;  but  I  plainly  perceive 
some  objections  remain,  which  I  ought,  if  possible, 
to  remove.  The  first  will  be,  that,  in  resorting  to 
the  doctrine  of  our  ancestors,  as  contained  in  the 
preamble  to  the  Chester  act,  I  prove  too  much; 
that  the  grievance  from  a  want  of  representation, 
stated  in  that  preamble,  goes  to  the  whole  of 
legislation  as  well  as  to  taxation.  And  that 
the  colonies,  grounding  themselves  upon  that 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     105 

doctrine,  will  apply  it  to  all  parts  of  legislative 
authority. 

To  this  objection,  with  all  possible  deference  and 
humility,  and  wishing  as  little  as  any  man  living 
to  impair  the  smallest  particle  of  our  supreme 
authority,  I  answer,  that  the  words  are  the  words 
of  parliament,  and  not  mine;  and,  that  all  false  and 
inconclusive  inferences,  drawn  from  them,  are  not 
mine;  for  I  heartily  disclaim  any  such  inference. 
I  have  chosen  the  words  of  an  act  of  parliament, 
which  Mr.  Grenville,  surely  a  tolerably  zealous  and 
very  judicious  advocate  for  the  sovereignty  of  par 
liament,  formerly  moved  to  have  read  at  your  table 
in  confirmation  of  his  tenets.  It  is  true,  that  Lord 
Chatham  considered  these  preambles  as  declaring 
strongly  in  favour  of  his  opinions.  He  was  a  no 
less  powerful  advocate  for  the  privileges  of  the 
Americans.  Ought  I  not  from  hence  to  presume, 
that  these  preambles  are  as  favourable  as  possible 
to  both,  when  properly  understood;  favourable 
both  to  the  rights  of  parliament,  and  to  the 
privilege  of  the  dependencies  of  this  crown?  But, 
Sir,  the  object  of  grievance  in  my  resolution  I 
have  not  taken  from  the  Chester,  but  from  the 
Durham  act,  which  confines  the  hardship  of  want 
of  representation  to  the  case  of  subsidies ;  and  which 
therefore  falls  in  exactly  with  the  case  of  the  colo 
nies.  But  whether  the  unrepresented  counties 
were  de  jure,  or  de  facto,  -bound,  the  preambles  do 
not  accurately  distinguish ;  nor  indeed  was  it  neces- 


106     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

sary;  for,  whether  de  jure  or  de  facto,  the  legisla 
ture  thought  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  taxing, 
as  of  right,  or  as  of  fact  without  right,  equally  a 
grievance,  and  equally  oppressive. 

[120]  I  do  not  know  that  the  colonies  have,  in  any 
general  way,  or  in  any  cool  hour,  gone  much 
beyond  the  demand  of  immunity  in  relation  to 
taxes.  It  is  not  fair  to  judge  of  the  temper  or 
dispositions  of  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  when 
they  are  composed  and  at  rest,  from  their  conduct, 
or  their  expressions,  in  a  state  of  disturbance  and 
irritation.  It  is  besides  a  very  great  mistake  to 
imagine,  that  mankind  follow  up  practically  any 
speculative  principle,  either  of  government  or  of 
freedom,  as  far  as  it  will  go  in  argument  and  log 
ical  illation.  We  Englishmen  stop  very  short  of 
the  principles  upon  which  we  support  any  given  part 
of  our  constitution ;  or  even  the  whole  of  it  together. 
I  could  easily,  if  I  had  not  already  tired  you,  give 
you  very  striking  and  convincing  instances  of  it. 
This  is  nothing  but  what  is  natural  and  proper. 
All  government,  indeed  every  human  benefit  and 
enjoyment,  every  virtue,  and  every  prudent  act,  is 
founded  on  compromise  and  barter.  We  balance 
inconveniences ;  we  give  and  take ;  we  remit  some 
rights  that  we  may  enjoy  others ;  and  we  choose 
rather  to  be  happy  citizens  than  subtle  disputants. 
As  we  must  give  away  some  natural  liberty,  to  enjoy 
civil  advantages;  so  we  must  sacrifice  some  civil 
liberties,  for  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     10? 

communion  and  fellowship  of  a  great  empire.  But, 
in  all  fair  dealings,  the  thing  bought  must  bear 
some  proportion  to  the  purchase  paid.  None  will 
barter  away  the  immediate  jewel  of  his  soul. 
Though  a  great  house  is  apt  to  make  slaves  haughty, 
yet  it  is  purchasing  a  part  of  the  artificial  impor 
tance  of  a  great  empire  too  dear,  to  pay  for  it  all 
essential  rights,  and  all  the  intrinsic  dignity  of 
human  nature.  None  of  us  who  would  not  risk 
his  life  rather  than  fall  under  a  government  purely 
arbitrary.  But  although  there  are  some  amongst 
us  who  think  our  constitution  wants  many  improve 
ments,  to  make  it  a  complete  system  of  liberty; 
perhaps  none  who  are  of  that  opinion  would  think 
it  right  to  aim  at  such  improvement,  by  disturbing 
his  country,  and  risking  everything  that  is  dear  to 
him.  In  every  arduous  enterprise,  we  consider 
what  we  are  to  lose  as  well  as  what  we  are  to  gain  ;  tf 
and  the  more  and  better  stake  of  liberty  every 
people  possess,  the  less  they  will  hazard  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  make  it  more.  These  are  the  cords  of 
man.  Man  acts  from  adequate  motives  jr^elativejo  >. 

speculations  M 


Aristotle,  the  great  master  of  reasoning,  cautions 
us,  and  with  great  weight  and  propriety,  against 
this  species  of  delusive  geometrical  accuracy  in 
moral  arguments,  as  the  most  fallacious  of  all 
sophistry. 

f!21]     The  Americans  will  have  no  interest  contrary  to 
the  grandeur  and  glory  of  England,  when  they  ar« 


108     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

not  oppressed  by  the  weight  of  it ;  and  they  will 
rather  be  inclined  to  respect  the  acts  }f  a  superin 
tending  legislature,  when  they  see  them  the  acts  of 
that  power,  which  is  itself  the  security,  not  the 
rival,  of  their  secondary  importance.  In  this 
assurance,  my  mind  most  perfectly  acquiesces :  and 
I  confess,  I  feel  not  the  least  alarm  from  the  dis 
contents  which  are  to  arise  from  putting  people  at 
their  ease;  nor  do  I  apprehend  the  destruction  of 
this  empire,  from  giving,  by  an  act  of  free  grace 
and  indulgence,  to  two  millions  of  my  fellow- 
citizens  some  share  of  those  rights,  upon  which  I 
have  always  been  taught  to  value  myself. 
(122]  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  power  of  granting, 
vested  in  American  assemblies,  would  dissolve  the 
unity  of  the  empire ;  which  was  preserved  entire, 
although  Wales,  and  Chester,  and  Durham  were 
added  to  it.  Truly,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  know 
what  this  unity  means ;  nor  has  it  ever  been  heard 
of,  that  I  know,  in  the  constitutional  policy  of  this 
country.  The  very  idea  of  subordination  of  parts, 
excludes  this  notion  of  simple  and  undivided  unity. 
England  is  the  head ;  but  she  is  not  the  head  and 
the  members  too.  Ireland  has  ever  had  from  the 
beginning  a  separate,  but  not  an  independent, 
legislature;  which,  far  from  distracting,  promoted 
the  union  of  the  whole.  Everything  was  sweetly 
and  harmoniously  disposed  through  both  islands 
for  the  conservation  of  English  dominion,  and  the 
communication  of  English  liberties.  I  do  not  see 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON   CONCILIATION     109 

that  the  same  principles  might  not  be  carried  into 
twenty  islands,  and  with  the  same  good  effect. 
This  is  my  model  with  regard  to  America,  as  far  as 
the  internal  circumstances  of  the  two  countries  are 
the  same.  I  know  no  other  unity  of  this  empire, 
than  I  can  draw  from  its  example  during  these 
periods,  when  it  seemed  to  my  poor  understanding 
more  united  than  it  is  now,  or  than  it  is  likely  to 
be  by  the  present  methods. 

[123]  But  since  I  speak  of  these  methods,  I  recollect, 
Mr.  Speaker,  almost  too  late,  that  I  promised, 
before  I  finished,  to  say  something  of  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  noble  lord  on  the  floor,  which  has  been 
so  lately  received,  and  stands  on  your  journals.  I 
must  be  deeply  concerned,  whenever  it  is  my  mis 
fortune  to  continue  a  difference  with  the  majority 
of  this  House.  But  as  the  reasons  for  that  differ 
ence  are  my  apology  for  thus  troubling  you,  suffer 
me  to  state  them  in  a  very  few  words.  I  shall 
compress  them  into  as  small  a  body  as  I  possibly 
can,  having  already  debated  that  matter  at  large, 
\vhen  the  question  was  before  the  committee. 

[  1.34]  First,  then,  I  cannot  admit  that  proposition  of  a 
ransom  by  auction  ;  —  -because  it  is  a  mere  project. 
It  is  a  thing  new  ;  unheard  of  ;  supported  by  no 
experience;  justified  by  no  analogy;  without  exum- 
xr  root  in  the  constitution. 


,--- 

It  is  neither  regular  parliamentary  taxation,   nor 
colony  grant.     Experimentitm  in  corpore  vili*  is  a 

1  Let  us  make  the  experiment  on  something  worthless. 


110     BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION 

good  rule,  which  will  ever  make  me  adverse  to  any 
trial  of  experiments  on  what  is  certainly  the  most 
valuable  of  all  subjects,  the  peace  of  this  empire. 
[125]  *  Secondly,  it  is  an  experiment  which  must  be 
x  fatal  in  the  end  to  our  constitution.  For  what  is 
it  but  a  scheme  for  taxing  the  colonies  in  the 
antechamber  of  the  noble  lord  and  his  successors? 
To  settle  the  quotas  and  proportions  in  this  House, 
is  clearly  impossible.  Yon,  Sir,  may  natter  your 
self  you  shall  sit  a  state  auctioneer,  with  your  ham 
mer  in  your  hand,  and  knock  down  to  each  colony 
as  it  bids.  But  to  settle  (on  the  plan  laid  down  by 
the  noble  lord)  the  true  proportional  payment  for 
four  or  five  and  twenty  governments,  according  to 
the  absolute  and  the  relative  wealth  of  each,  and 
according  to  the  British  proportion  of  wealth  and 
burthen,  is  a  wild  and  chimerical  notion.  This 
new  taxation  must  therefore  come  in  by  the  back 
door  of  the  constitution.  Each  quota  must  be 
brought  to  this  House  ready  formed;  you  can 
neither  add  nor  alter.  You  must  register  it.  You 
can  do  nothing  further.  For  on  what  grounds  can 
you  deliberate  either  before  or  after  the  proposi 
tion?  You  cannot  hear  the  counsel  for  all  these 
provinces,  quarrelling  each  on  its  own  quantity  of 
payment,  and  its  proportion  to  others.  If  you 
should  attempt  it,  the  committee  of  provincial 
ways  and  means,  or  by  whatever  other  name  it  will 
delight  to  be  called,  must  swallow  up  all  the  time 
of  parliament. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON   CONCILIATION     111 

(126]  Thirdly,  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  com 
plaint  of  the  colonies.  They  complain,  that  they 
are  taxed  without  their  consent ;  you  answer,  that 
you  will  fix  the  sum  at  which  they  shall  be  taxed. 
That  is,  you  give  them  the  very  grievance  for  the 
remedy.  You  tell  them,  indeed,  that  you  will 
leave  the  mode  to  themselves.  I  really  beg  par 
don  :  it  gives  me  pain  to  mention  it ;  but  you  must 
be  sensible  that  you  will  not  perform  this  part  of 
the  compact.  For,  suppose  the  colonies  were  to 
lay  the  duties,  which  furnished  their  contingent, 
upon  the  importation  of  your  manufactures ;  you 
know  you  would  never  suffer  such  a  tax  to  be  laid. 
You  know,  too,  that  you  would  not  suffer  many 
other  modes  of  taxation.  So  that,  when  you  come 
to  explain  yourself,  it  will  be  found,  that  you  will 
neither  leave  to  themselves  the  quantum  nor  the 
mode ;  nor  indeed  anything.  The  whole  is  delusion 
from  one  end  to  the  other. 

[127]  Fourthly,  this  method  of  ransom  by  auction, 
unless  it  be  universally  accepted,  will  plunge  yoi> 
into  great  and  inextricable  difficulties.  In  what 
year  of  our  Lord  are  the  proportions  of  payment? 
to  be  settled?  To  say  nothing  of  the  impossibility 
that  colony  agents  should  have  general  powers  of 
taxing  the  colonies  at  their  discretion ;  consider,  I 
implore  you,  that  the  communication  by  special 
messages,  and  orders  between  these  agents  and  their 
constituents  on  each  variation  of  the  case,  when 
the  parties  come  to  contend  together,  and  to  dis  • 


112    BCJRKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

pute  on  their  relative  proportions,  will  be  a  matter 
of  delay,  perplexity,  and  confusion  that  never  can 
have  an  end. 

(128]  If  all  the  colonies  do  not  appear  at  the  outcry, 
what  is  the  condition  of  those  assemblies,  who  offer 
by  themselves  or  their  agents,  to  tax  themselves 
up  to  your  ideas  of  their  proportion?  The  refrac 
tory  colonies,  who  refuse  all  composition,  will 
remain  taxed  only  to  your  old  impositions,  which, 
however  grievous  in  principle,  are  trifling  as  to 
production.  The  obedient  colonies  in  this  scheme 
are  heavily  taxed;  the  refractory  remain  unbur- 
thened.  What  will  you  do?  Will  you  lay  new  and 
heavier  taxes  by  parliament  on  the  disobedient? 
Pray  consider  in  what  way  you  can  doit.  You  are 
perfectly  convinced,  that,  in  the  way  of  taxing, 
you  can  do  nothing  but  at  the  ports.  Now  sup 
pose  it  is  Virginia  that  refuses  to  appear  at  your 
auction,  while  Maryland  and  North  Carolina  bid 
handsomely  for  their  ransom,  and  are  taxed  to  your 
quota,  how  will  you  put  these  colonies  on  a  par? 
Will  you  tax  the  tobacco  of  Virginia?  If  you  do, 
you  give  its  death -wound  to  your  English  revenue 
at  home,  and  to  one  of  the  very  greatest  articles  of 
your  own  foreign  trade.  If  you  tax  the  import  of 
that  rebellious  colony,  what  do  you  tax  but  your 
own  manufactures,  or  the  goods  of  some  other 
obedient  and  already  well-taxed  colony?  Who  has 
said  one  word  on  this  labyrinth  of  detail,  which 
bewilders  you  more  and  more  as  you  enter  into  it? 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     113 

Who  has  presented,  who  can  present  you  with  a 
clue,  to  lead  you  out  of  it?  I  think,  Sir,  it  is 
impossible,  that  you  should  not  recollect  that  the 
colony  bounds  are  so  implicated  in  one  another, 
(you  know  it  by  your  other  experiments  in  the  bill 
for  prohibiting  the  New  England  fishery,)  that  you 
can  lay  no  possible  restraints  on  almost  any  cf  them 
which  may  not  be  presently  eluded,  if  you  do  not 
confound  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  and 
burthen  those  whom,  upon  every  principle,  you 
ought  to  exonerate.  He  must  be  grossly  ignorant 
of  America,  who  thinks  that,  without  falling  into 
this  confusion  of  all  rules  of  equity  and  policy, 
you  can  restrain  any  single  colony,  especially  Vir 
ginia  and  Maryland,  the  central  and  most  important 
of  them  all. 

[129]  Let  it  also  be  considered,  that,  either  in  the 
present  confusion  you  settle  a  permanent  con 
tingent,  which  will  and  must  be  trifling;  and  then 
you  have  no  effectual  revenue :  or  3Tou  change  the 
quota  at  every  exigency ;  and  then  on  every  new 
repartition  you  will  have  a  new  quarrel. 

[130]  Reflect  besides,  that  when  you  have  fixed  a  quota 
for  every  colony,  you  have  not  provided  for  prompt 
and  punctual  payment.  Suppose  one,  two,  five, 
ten  years'  arrears.  You  cannot  issue  a  treasury 
extent  against  the  failing  colony.  You  must  make 
new  Boston  Port  Bills,  new  restraining  laws,  new 
acts  for  dragging  men  to  England  for  trial.  You 
must  send  out  new  fleets,  new  armies.  All  is  to 


114     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

begin  again.  From  this  day  forward  the  empire  is 
never  to  know  an  hour's  tranquillity.  An 
intestine  fire  will  be  kept  alive  in  the  bowels  of  the 
colonies,  which  one  time  or  other  must  consume 
this  whole  empire.  I  allow  indeed  that  the  empire 
of  Germany  raises  her  revenue  and  her  troops  by 
quotas  and  contingents;  but  the  revenue  of  the 
empire,  and  the  army  of  the  empire,  is  the  worst 
revenue  and  the  worst  army  in  the  world. 

Instead  of  a  standing  revenue,  you  will  therefore 
have  a  perpetual  quarrel.  Indeed  the  noble  lord, 
who  proposed  this  project  of  a  ransom  by  auction, 
seemed  himself  to  be  of  that  opinion.  His  project 
was  rather  designed  for  breaking  the  union  of  the 
colonies,  than  for  establishing  a  revenue.  He 
confessed,  he  apprehended,  that  his  proposal  would 
not  be  to  their  taste.  I  say,  this  scheme  of  dis 
union  seems  to  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  project ;  for 
I  will  not  suspect  that  the  noble  lord  meant  noth 
ing  but  merely  to  delude  the  nation  by  an  airy 
phantom  which  he  never  intended  to  realize.  But 
whatever  his  views  may  be;  as  I  propose  the  peace 
and  union  of  the  colonies  as  the  very  foundation 
of  my  plan,  it  cannot  accord  with  one  whose 
foundation  is  perpetual  discord. 

Compare  the  two.  This  I  offer  to  give  you  is 
plain  and  simple.  The  other  full  of  perplexed  and 
intricate  mazes.  This  is  mild;  that  harsh.  This 
is  found  by  experience  effectual  for  its  purposes; 
the  other  is  a  new  project.  This  is  universal ;  the 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     115 

other  calculated  for  certain  colonies  only.  This  is 
immediate  in  its  conciliatory  operation;  the  other 
remote,  contingent,  full  of  hazard.  Mine  is  what 
becomes  the  dignity  of  a  ruling  people;  gratuitous, 
unconditional,  and  not  held  out  as  matter  of  bar 
gain  and  sale.  I  have  done  my  duty  in  proposing 
it  to  you.  I  have  indeed  tired  you  by  a  long  dis 
course;  but  this  is  the  misfortune  of  those  to 
whose  influence  nothing  will  be  conceded,  and  who 
must  win  every  inch  of  their  ground  by  argument. 
You  have  heard  me  with  goodness.  May  you 
decide  with  wisdom !  For  my  part,  I  feel  my  mind 
greatly  disburthened  by  what  I  have  done  to-day. 
I  have  been  the  less  fearful  of  trying  your  patience, 
because  on  this  subject  I  mean  to  spare  it  altogether 
in  future.  I  have  this  comfort,  that  in  every  stagb 
of  the  American  affairs,  I  have  steadily  opposed 
the  measures  that  have  produced  the  confusion, 
and  may  bring  on  the  destruction  of  this  empire. 
I  now  go  so  far  as  to  risk  a  proposal  of  my  own. 
If  I  cannot  give  peace  to  my  country,  I  give  it  to^ 
my  conscience. 

[133]  But  what  (says  the  financier)  is  peace  to  us  with 
out  money?  Your  plan  gives  us  no  revenue.  No! 
But  it  does — For  it  secures  to  the  subject  the 
power  of  REFUSAL;  the  first  of  all  revenues. 
Experience  is  a  cheat,  and  fact  a  liar,  if  this  power 
in  the  subject  of  proportioning  his  grant,  or  of  not 
granting  at  all,  has  not  been  found  the  richest 
mine  of  revenue  ever  discovered  by  the  skill  or  by 


116     BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

the  fortune  of  man.  It  does  not  indeed  vote  you 
£152,750:  11:  2fths,  nor  any  other  paltry  limited 
sum. — But  it  gives  the  strong  box  itself,  the  fund, 
the  bank,  from  whence  only  revenues  can  arise 
amongst  a  people  sensible  of  freedom:  Posita 
luditur  area.1  Cannot  you  in  England;  cannot 
you  at  this  time  of  day ;  cannot  you,  a  House  of 
Commons,  trust  to  the  principle  which  has  raised 
so  mighty  a  revenue,  and  accumulated  a  debt  of 
near  140  millions  in  this  country?  Is  this  prin 
ciple  to.be  true  in  England,  and  false  everywhere 
else?  Is  it  not  true  in  Ireland?  Has  it  not 
hitherto  been  true  in  the  colonies?  Why  should 
you  presume,  that,  in  any  country,  a  body  duly 
constituted  for  any  function,  will  neglect  to  per 
form  its  duty,  and  abdicate  its  trust?  Such  a 
presumption  would  go  against  all  governments  in 
all  modes.  But,  in  truth,  this  dread  of  penury  of 
supply,  from  a  free  assembly,  has  no  foundation  in 
nature.  For  first  observe,  that,  besides  the  desire 
which  all  men  have  naturally  of  supporting  the 
honour  of  their  own  government,  that  sense  of 
dignity,  and  that  security  to  property,  which  ever 
attends  freedom,  has  a  tendency  to  increase  the 
stock  of  the  free  community.  Most  may  be  taken 
where  most  is  accumulated.  And  what  is  the  soil 
or  climate  where  experience  has  not  uniformly 
proved,  that  the  voluntary  flow  of  heaped-up 

'The  strong-box  (the  whole  fortune)  is  put  up  as  a 
stake. — Juvenal,  Satires.  I,  90 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION     117 

plenty,  bursting  from  the  weight  of  its  own  rich 
luxuriance,  has  ever  run  with  a  more  copious 
stream  of  revenue,  than  could  be  squeezed  from  the 
dry  husks  of  oppressed  indigence,  by  the  straining 
of  all  the  politic  machinery  in  the  world. 
£134]  Next  we  know,  that  parties  must  ever  exist  in  a 
free  country.  We  know,  too,  that  the  emulations 
of  such  parties,  their  contradictions,  then  reciprocal 
necessities,  their  hopes,  and  their  fears,  must  send 
them  all  in  their  turns  to  him  that  holds  the  bal 
ance  of  the  state.  The  parties  are  the  gamesters ; ,  ,/- 
but  government  keeps  the  table,  and  is  sure  to  be 
the  winner  in  the  end,  When  this  game  is  played, 
I  really  think  it  is  more  to  be  feared  that  the 
people  will  be  exhausted,  than  that  government 
will  not  be  supplied.  Whereas,  whatever  is  got  by 
acts  of  absolute  power  ill  obeyed,  because  odious, 
or  by  contracts  ill  kept,  because  constrained,  will 
be  narrow,  feeble,  uncertain,  and  precarious. 

Ease  would  retract 
Vou's  made  in  pain,  as  violent  and  void. 

35]  I,  for  one,  protest  against  compounding  our 
demands:  I  declare  against  compounding  for  a 
poor  limited  sum,  the  immense,  evergrowing, 
eternal  debt,  which  is  due  to  generous  government 
from  protected  freedom.  And  so  may  I  speed  in 
the  great  object  I  propose  to  you,  as  I  think  it 
would  not  only  be  an  act  of  injustice,  but  would 
be  the  worst  economy  in  the  world,  to  compel  the 


118     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

colonies  to  a  sum  certain,  either  in  the  way  of  ran 
som,  or  in  the  way  of  compulsory  compact. 

[136]  But  to  clear  up  my  ideas  on  this  subject — a 
revenue  from  America  transmitted  hither — do  not 
delude  yourselves — you  never  can  receive  it — No, 
not  a  shilling.  We  have  experience  that  from 
remote  countries  it  is  not  to  be  expected.  If, 
when  you  attempted  to  extract  revenue  from 
Bengal,  you  were  obliged  to  return  in  loan  what 
you  had  taken  in  imposition ;  what  can  you  expect 
from  North  America?  For  certainly,  if  ever  there 
was  a  country  qualified  to  produce  wealth,  it  is 
India;  or  an  institution  fit  for  the  transmission,  it 
is  the  East  India  Company.  America  has  none  of 
these  aptitudes.  If  America  gives  you  taxable 
objects,  on  which  you  lay  your  duties  here,  and 
gives  you,  at  the  same  time,  a  surplus  by  a  foreign 
sale  of  her  commodities  to  pay  the  duties  on  these 
objects,  which  you  tax  at  home,  she  has  performed 
her  part  to  the  British  revenue.  But  with  regard 
to  her  own  internal  establishments;  she  may,  I 
doubt  not  she  will,  contribute  in  moderation.  I 
say  in  moderation;  for  she  ought  not  to  be  per 
mitted  to  exhaust  herself.  She  ought  to  be 
reserved  to  a  war;  the  weight  of  which,  with  the 
enemies  that  we  are  most  likely  to  have,  must  be 
considerable  in  her  quarter  of  the  globe.  There 
she  may  serve  you,  and  serve  you  essentially. 

[187]  For  that  service,  for  all  service,  whether  of 
revenue,  trade,  or  empire,  my  trust  is  in  her  inter- 


BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION     119 

est  in  the  British  constitution.  My  hold  of  the 
colonies  is  in  the  close  affection  which  grows  from 
common  names,  from  kindred  blood,  from  similar 
privileges,  and  equal  protection.  These  are  ties, 
which,  though  light_as  air,  areas  strong  as  links 
of  iron.  Let  the  colonies  always  keep  the  idea  .of 
their  civil  rights  associated  with  your  government ;  V 
— they  will  cling  and  grapple  to  you ;  and  no  force 
under  heaven  will  be  of  power  to  tear  them  from 
their  allegiance.  But  let  it  be  once  understood, 
that  your  government  may  be  one  thing,  and  their 
privileges  another;  that  these  t\vo  things  may  exist 
without  anjnnutiial  relation;  the  cement  is  gone; 
the  cohesion  is  loosened;  and  everything  hastens  to 
decay  and  dissolution.  As  long  as  you  have  the 
wisdom  to  keep  the  sovereign  authority  of  this 
country  as  the  sanctuary^  liberty,  the  sacred 
temple  consecrated  to  our  common  faith,  wherever 
the  chosen  racTe  aiicTsons  trf  England  worship  free 
dom,  they  will  turn  their  faces  towards  you.  The 
more  they  multiply,  the  more  friends  you  will 
have;  the  more  ardently  they  love  liberty,  the  more 
perfect  will  be  their  obedience.  Slavery  they  can 
have  anywhere.  It  is  a  weed  that  grows  in  every 
soil.  They  may  have  it  from  Spain,  they  may  have 
it  from  Prussia.  But,  until  you  become  lost  to  all 
feeling  of  your  true  interest  and  your  natural 
dignity,  freedom  they  can  have  from  none  but  you. 
This  is  the  commodity  of  price,  of  which  you  have 
the  monopoly.  This  is  the  true  act  of  navigation, 


120     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

which  binds  to  you  the  commerce  of  the  colonies, 
and  through  them  secures  to  you  the  wealth  of  the 
world.  Deny  them  this  participation  of  freedom, 
and  you  break  that  sole  bond,  which  originally 
made,  and  must  still  preserve,  the  unity  of  the 
empire.  Do  not  entertain  so  weak  an  imagination, 
as  that  your  registers  and  your  bonds,  your  affi 
davits  and  your  sufferances,  your  cockets  and  your 
clearances,  are  what  form  the  great  securities  of 
your  commerce.  Do  not  dream  that  your  letters 
of  office,  and  your  instructions,  and  your  suspend 
ing  clauses,  are  the  things  that  hold  together  the 
great  contexture  of  the  mysterious  whole.  These 
things  do  not  make  your  government.  Dead 
instruments,  passive  tools  as  they  are,  it  is  the  spirit 
of  the  English  communion  that  gives  all  their  life 
and  efficacy  to  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  Eng 
lish  constitution,  which,  infused  through  the 
mighty  mass,  pervades,  feeds,  unites,  invigorates, 
vivifies  every  part  of  the  empire,  even  down  to  the 
minutest  member. 

J138]  Is  it  not  the  same  virtue  which  does  everything 
for  us  here  in  England?  Do  you  imagine  then, 
that  it  is  the  land  tax  act  which  raises  your  revenue? 
that  it  is  the  annual  vote  in  the  committee  of 
supply  which  gives  you  your  army?  or  that  it  is  the 
mutiny  bill  which  inspires  it  with  bravery  and 
discipline?  No!  surely  no!  It  is  the  love  of  the 
people ;  it  is  their  attachment  to  their  government 
from  the  sense  of  the  deep  stake  they  have  in  such 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION    121 

a  glorious  institution,  which  gives  you  your  army 
and  your  navy,  and  infuses  into  both  that  liberal 
obedience,  without  which  your  army  would  be  a 
base  rabble,  and  your  navy  nothing  but  rotten 
timber. 

[139]  All  this,  I  know  well  enough,  will  sound  wild 
and  chimerical  to  the  profane  herd  of  those  vul 
gar  and  mechanical  politicians,  who  have  no  place 
among  us;  a  sort  of  people  who  think  that  nothing 
exists  but  what  is  gross  and  material;  and  who  l- 
therefore,  far  from  being  qualified  to  be  directors 
of  the  great  movement  of  empire,  are  not  fit  to 
turn  a  wheel  in  the  machine.  But  to  men  truly 
initiated  and  rightly  taught,  these  ruling  and 
master  principles,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  such 
men  as  I  have  mentioned,  have  no  substantial 
existence,  are  in  truth  everything,  and  all  in  all. 
Magnanimity  in  politics  is  not  seldom  the  truest  * 
wisdom;  and  a  great  empire  and  little  minds  go  ill 
together.  If  we  are  conscious  of  our  situation  and 
glow  with  zeal  to  fill  our  place  as  becomes  our 
station  and  ourselves,  we  ought  to  auspicate  all  our 
public  proceedings  on  America  with  the  old  warn 
ing  of  the  church,  Sursum  corda!1  We  ought  to 
elevate  our  minds  to  the  greatness  of  that  trustTt<> 
which_the_order ;  pJJProvideiice  has  called  us.  By 
adverting  to  the  dignity  of  this  high  calling,  our 
ancestors  have  turned  a  savage  wilderness  into  a 
glorious  empire ;  and  have  made  the  most  extensive, 

1  Lift  up  your  hearts. 


122     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

and  the  only  honourable  conquests,  not  by  destroy 
ing,  but  by  promoting  the  wealth,  the  number, 
the  happiness  of  the  human  race,  Let  us  get  an 
American  revenue  as  we  have  got  an  American 
empire.  English  privileges  have  made  it  all  that 
it  is ;  English  privileges  alone  will  make  it  all  it 
can  be. 

[140]  In  full  confidence  of  this  unalterable  truth,  I 
now  (quod  felix  faustumque  sit)1  lay  the  first  stone 
of  the  temple  of  peace;  and  I  move  you, 

"  That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great 
Britain  in  North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen 
separate  governments,  and  containing  two  millions 
and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants,  have  not  had  the 
liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending 
any  knights  and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent 
them  in  the  high  court  of  parliament." 


(141]  Upon  this  resolution  the  previous  question  was 
put,  bat  the  resolution  failed  of  adoption; — yeas 
78,  noes  270. 

As  the  propositions  were  opened  separately  in  the 
body  of  the  speech,  the  reader  perhaps  may  wish 
to  see  the  whole  of  them  together,  in  the  form  in 
which  they  were  moved  for.  The  first  four  motions 
and  the  last  had  the  previous  question  put  on  them. 
The  others  were  negatived.  The  words  •  in  italics 
were,  by  amendment,  left  out  of  the  motion. 

2  May  it  be  happy  and  fortunate. 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION    123 

41  Moved, 

f!43]  "That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great 
Britain  in  North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen 
separate  governments,  and  containing  two  millions 
and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants,  have  not  had  the 
liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending  an) 
knights  and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent 
them  in  the  high  court  of  parliament. " 

(144]  "That  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have 
been  made  liable  to,  and  bounden'by,  several  sub 
sidies,  payments,  rates,  and  taxes,  given  and 
granted  by  parliament;  though  the  said  colonies 
and  plantations  have  not  their  knights  and  bur 
gesses,  in  the  said  high  court  of  parliament,  of 
their  own  election,  to  represent  the  condition 
of  their  country ;  by  lack  ivhereof,  they  have  been 
oftentimes  touched  and  grieved  by  subsidies  given, 
granted,  and  assented  to,  in  the  said  court,*  in  a 
manner  prejudicial  to  the  commonwealth,  quiet' 
ness,  rest,  and  peace,  of  the  subjects  inhabiting 
within  the  same.11 

(145]  "That  from  the  distance  of  the  said  colonies, 
and  from  other  circumstances,  no  method  hath 
hitherto  been  devised  for  procuring  a  representa 
tion  in  parliament  for  the  said  colonies." 

{146J  "That  each  of  the  said  colonies  hath  within 
itself  a  body,  chosen,  in  part  or  in  the  whole,  by 
the  freemen,  freeholders,  or  other  free  'inhabitants 
thereof,  commonly  called  the  general  assembly,  01 
general  court;  with  powers  legally  to  raise,  levy, 


124    BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

and  assess,  according  to  the  several  usage  of  sucn 
colonies,  duties  and  taxes  towards  defraying  all 
sorts  of  public  services." 

(147]  "That  the  said  general  assemblies,  general 
courts,  or  other  bodies,  legally  qualified  as  afore 
said,  have  at  sundry  times  freely  granted  several 
large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for  his  Majesty's 
service,  according  to  their  abilities,  when  required 
thereto  by  letter  from  one  of  his  Majesty's  prin 
cipal  secretaries  of  state ;  and  that  their  right  to 
grant  the  same,  and  their  cheerfulness  and 
sufficiency  in  the  said  grants,  have  been  at  sundry 
times  acknowledged  by  parliament." 

[148]  "That  it  hath  been  found  by  experience,  that 
the  manner  of  granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids, 
by  the  said  general  assemblies,  hath  been  more 
agreeable  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  colonies, 
and  more  beneficial  and  conducive  to  the  public 
service,  than  the  mode  of  giving  and  granting  aids 
and  subsidies  in  parliament  to  be  raised  and  paid 
in  the  said  colonies." 

£149]  "That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made 
in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for  granting  certain 
duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in 
America;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of 
customs,  upon  the  exportation  from  this  kingdom, 
of  coffee  and  cocoa-nuts,  of  the  produce  of  the  said 
colonies  or  plantations;  for  discontinuing  the 
drawbacks  payable  on  China  earthenware  exported 


BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION    125 

to  America;  and  for  more  effectually  preventing 
the  clandestine  ranning  of  goods  in  the  said  colo 
nies  and  plantations," 

"That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  to  discontinue,  in  such 
manner.,  and  for  such  time,  as  are  therein  men 
tioned,  tho  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or 
shipping  of  goods,  rares,  and  merchandise,  at  the 
town,  and  within  the  harbour  of  Boston,  in  the 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America. " 

JL51)  "That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for  the  impartial  admin 
istration  of  justice,  in  cases  of  persons  questioned 
for  any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of  the 
law,  or  for  the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults  in  tho 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England.'' 

1152]  "That  it  is  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty, 
intituled,  An  act  for  the  better  regulating  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in 
New  England." 

[153]  "That  it  is  proper  to  explain  and  amend  an  act 
made  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  VIII. ,  intituled,  An  act  for  the  trial  of 
treasons  committed  out  of  the  king's  dominions." 

(154]  "That,  from  the  time  when  the  general  assembly, 
or  general  court,  of  any  colony  or  plantation,  in 
North  America,  shall  have  appointed,  by  act  of 


126     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

assembly  duly  confirmed,  a  settled  salary  to  the 
offices  of  the  chief  justice  and  other  judges  of  the 
superior  courts,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said 
chief  justice  and  other  judges  of  the  superior 
courts  of  such  colony  shall  hold  his  and  their  office 
and  offices  during  their  good  behaviour;  and 
shall  not  be  removed  therefrom,  but  when  the  said 
removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his  Majesty  in 
council,  upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the 
general  assembly,  or  on  a  complaint  from  the 
governor,  or  council,  or  the  house  of  represent 
atives,  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which  the  said 
chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the 
eaid  office." 

(155]  "That  it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the  courts 
of  admiralty,  or  vice-admiralty,  authorized  by  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  the  fourth  of  George  III.,  in 
such  a  manner,  as  to  make  the  same  more  com 
modious  to  those  who  sue,  or  are  sued,  in  the  said 
courts;  and  to  provide  for  the  more  decent 
maintenance  of  the  judges  of  the  same.9' 


QUESTIONS  ON  THE  LITERARY  AND  RHETORI 
CAL  QUALITIES  OF  THE  SPEECH  ON 
CONCILIATION 

One  reading  of  the  speech,  preferably  the  first 
or  the  second,  should  be  devoted  to  a  study  of  the 
literary  and  rhetorical  qualities.  The  following 
questions  are  intended  merely  to  indicate  topics  for 
study.  The  work  may  be  extended  as  time,  and 
the  attainments  of  the  class  permit.  The  order 
of  the  questions  is  perhaps  not  the  best  for  all 
classes.  Some  of  the  questions  may  be  assigned 
for  reports  or  brief  essays.  Numbers  in  parentheses 
refer  to  paragraphs  of  the  speech : 

1.  What  power  over  words  is  seen  in  the  use  of 
event    (1),   delicate    (2),   comprehend  (4),   capital 
(12),  occasional  (16),  auspicious  (25),  the  genius, 
(25),    determine    (36),    sensible    (38),    auspicate 
(139)?      Compare   the   etymological    meaning    of 
these  words  with  their  usual  meaning. 

2.  What  argumentative  or   persuasive    force  is 
there  in  the  use  of  squabbling  (10),  auction  (10), 
indifferently  (13),  partial  (16),   occasional   (16), 
adored   (38)?      Find   other    single   words    which 
condense  a  whole  argument. 

3.  One  element  of  Burke 's  power  is  his  use  of 
specific,  concrete,  incisive  terms.     Find  examples 

127 


128     BURKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

in   (42)   last  sentence,  (43),  (50),   (56),  or  other 
paragraphs. 

4.  What  characteristic  of  vocabulary  is  seen  in 
such  a  pass  (5),  play  the  game  out  (5),  produce  our 
hand  (5),  fave  so  far  in  to  (6),  a  good  while  (8), 
knock  down  the  hammer  (10),  shot  a  good  deal  (12), 
smartness  of  debate  (42),  mighty  well  (42),  have 
done   the   business    (45),  are  wished  to  look  (99)? 
Find  other  examples. 

5.  The  words  which  Burke  uses  close  together 
fit  one  another's  meaning;    as,   "In  this  posture 
things  stood"  (5).     While  his  phraseology  is  not 
always  smooth  and  nice,  he  makes  effective  phrases. 
Find  illustrations  in   (25),    (66),   and  (72),  or  in 
other  paragraphs. 

6.  What  does  Burke 's  phraseology  owe  to  the 
English  Bible? 

7.  Similes,    metaphors,    and     tropes     (slightly 
figurative  turns  of  expression)  are  very  numerous 
in  all  of  Burke 's  writings.     Cite  a  few  examples 
from  this  speech. 

8.  Burke  uses  a  good  many  reference  words  and 
words  of  transition  and  connection  to  make  it  easy 
for  the  reader  to  follow  his  course  of  reasoning. 
Mark   all   there   are   in    (36).      Note   words   and 
phrases    of    transition   at  the   beginning  of  many 
paragraphs. 

9.  What  evidences  of  the  oratorical  temperament 
are  seen  in  the  diction  of  (1),  (4),  (15),  (25),  (30), 
(43),  (45)? 


RHETORICAL  DUALITIES  129 

10.  Does  Bnrke  use  the  rhetorical  question  and 
fche  exclamation? 

11.  Find   cases  of  parallelism   and   balance   in 
•sentences.     A  case  of  climax.     Notice  in  the  Brief 
Proper    the    forward    inarch    of   the   three    main 
propositions. 

12.  Find  a  wise  political  maxim  expressed  in  a 
short  sentence  in   (10),  in   (13),  (45),    (5!)),  (05), 
((50),  (83),  (88),  (96),  (120),  and  (139). 

13.  Examine  the  variety  in  length  and  structure 
and  kinds  of  sentences  in  (25),  (45),  (55),  (56). 

1-t.  What  characteristics  of  the  introduction  are 
perhaps  explained  by  the  fact  that  he  knew  his 
audience  to  be  strongly  opposed  to  his  views? 

1 5.  Do  you  find  that  usually  each  paragraph  deals 
with   only  one  topic?  that  it  is  possible  to   state 
4he  principal  thought  of  each  paragraph  in  a  single 
sentence?     What  quality  of    composition  is  indi 
cated  by  these  facts? 

16.  In  (59)  point  out  the  sentence  which  best 
expresses  the  topic.     Show  how  each  of  the  other 
sentences    introduces,    or   proves,    or   repeats,    or 
explains,  or  exemplifies,  the  main  idea. 

17.  Show  in  what  orderly  sequence  the  ideas  of 
(60)   come  along.     Make  a  list  of  them.     Notice 
the  proportion  of  space  and  the  relative  prominence 
given  to  each  of  them.     Do  these  correspond  with 
their  importance  relatively  to  the  thought? 

18.  In  the  group  (47-64)  have  we  the  inductive 
or  the  deductive  order  of  thought?     How  is  it  in 


130     BURKE'S  SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

most  of  the  speech?  Is  Burke 's  plan  fully 
announced  at  the  beginning?  Arc  we  kept  in  sus 
pense  as  to  just  what  Burke  wants?  Where  do  we 
find  out  in  full? 

19.  In  (47)  Burke  says  he  "would  patiently  go 
round    and    round    the    subject,    and    survey   it 
minutely  in  every  possible  aspect,"      Burke  has 
been  accused  of  making  too  many  fine  distinctions  in 
his  speeches.     Do  you  think  the  criticism  just?     Is 
there  a  distinction  made  in  this  speech  that  is  unnec 
essary  to  the  argument?     Consult  the  Brief  Proper. 

20.  Do  you  find  any  passages  that  would  sound 
too  highly  oratorical  in  a  speech  nowadays?     IIo\v 
about  the  Latin  quotations? 

21.  Notice  a  few  of  the  quotations  and  allusions 
and  see  if  there  is  not  a  bit  of  argument  or  persua 
sion  concealed   in  each  of  them.     Point  it   out. 
Can  you  find  any   purely  ornamental  passage    in 
this  speech? 

22.  AVhat  passages  in  this  speech  indicate  espe 
cially  that  Burke  was  a  believer  in  the  "sacredness 
of  law,"  and  that  he  reverenced  the  past?     How 
often  does  he  appeal  to  experience  as  proof  of  what 
he  says? 

23.  If  you  had  read  nothing  about   Burke  the 
man,  could  you  tell  from  this  speech  what  some  of 
his   personal    qualities    (mental,    moral,   religious) 
must  have  been?     Could  you  tell  also  whether  or 
not  he  had  read  much?    what  his  favorite  books 
were?  what  his  political  ideals  were? 


RHETORICAL  QUALITIES  131 

24.  Matthew   Arnold   says  that   Burke  "is   so 
.jreat  because,  almost  alone  in  England,  he  brings 
thought  to  bear  upon  politics;  he  saturates  politics 
with  thought."     Of  what  passage  in  this  speech 
does  this  statement  seem  to  you  to  be  especially 
true? 

25.  "Burke    bases   his   reasoning    on  facts   in 
human  nature."     Verify  this. 

26.  Professor  Goodrich  says  that  the  secret  of 
Burke 's  richness  of  thought  "consisted,  to  a  great 
extent,  in  his  habit  of   viewing   things  in  their 
causes,   or    tracing  them    out   in   their   results." 
Verify. 

27.  Report  the  steps  in  the  reductio  aa  almirdum 
in  (70-73). 

28.  What  form  of  argument  is  used  in  (81)  and 
(88)?      Notice  the  use  of  words  of  comparison, 
more,  7w?.s,  as,  as  mud. 

20.  Do  you  find  evidences  of  a  powerful  imagi 
nation  in  this  speech?  Do  you  find  any  poetic 
touches? 

30.  Which  of  the  following  adjectives  might  be 
used  truthfully  in  speaking  of  the  style  of  Burke's 
Speech  on  Conciliation?  Cite  passages  in  sup 
port  of  your  answer.  Suggestive,  picturesque, 
pathetic,  sublime,  serious,  sincere,  keeri^ judicious, 
ironical,  beautiful,  grand,  clear", 'emphatic^  pre 
cise,  simple^  colloquial,  harsh,  intense,  diffuse, 
repetitious, 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  LOGICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  THE 
SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

One  reading,  preferably  the  second  or  the  third, 
may  profitably  be  devoted  exclusively  to  a  study  of 
the  logical  structure  of  the  speech,  to  an  examina 
tion  of  the  arguments  separately  and  in  their 
inter-relations.  Experience  has  shown  that  the 
arguments  will  be  best  appreciated  if  the  para 
graphs  are  condensed  into  sentences  and  these 
sentences  are  arrayed  according  to  their  rank 
in  the  argumentative  scheme.  This  kind  of 
work  is  difficult,  but  rewards  the  pupil  by  giv 
ing  him  a  comprehension  of  the  argument  such  as 
he  can  hardly  gain  in  any  other  way.  Fully  one- 
half  of  the  time  devoted  to  this  speech  may  profit 
ably  be  spent  in  the  making  of  a  Brief.  The 
following  suggestions  are  intended  to  afford  the 
pupil  needed  help  towards  making  his  Brief.  A 
Brief  of  Burke 's  introduction  to  the  speech  is 
given  in  full  in  order  to  illustrate  the  form 
preferred.  Complete  sentences,  reading  as  rea 
sons,  should  everywhere  be  insisted  upon.  The 
numbers  given  below  in  parentheses  refer  to 
paragraphs  of  the  speech.  Directions  to  the 
pupil  are  in  brackets.  Material  not  in  brackets 
stands  as  part  of  the  final  Brief.  It  will  pay  to 


LOGICAL  STRUCTURE  133 

adhere  to  the  form  and  system  of  numoering  sug 
gested,  mid  to  draw  oil  a  complete  Brief.  Before 
beginning  to  make  the  Brief  Proper,  let  the  pupil 
read  the  first  fourteen  paragraphs  of  the  speech, 
comparing  them  one  by  one  with  the  Brief  of  the 
introduction  given  below.  Let  him  note  that  the 
main  thought  of  paragraph  (1)  may  be  expressed 
in  a  single,  complete  sentence,  as  (I)  below;  that 
the  same  is  true  of  (2);  but  (hat  (3)  and  (4)  belong 
together,  forming  a  contrast;  that  (5),  (G),  (7), 
and  (8)  also  belong  together,  since  they  give 
Burke 's  excuses  for  speaking;  that  (0)  gives 
Burke's  proposition;  that  (10),  (11),  (12),  and  (13) 
belong  together  because  they  contrast  Burke 's 
plan  with  Lord  North's  and  show  what  advantage 
the  former  gains  from  the  fact  that  the  latter  has 
been  presented;  that  (13)  also  adds  a  new  thought 
(VII  below);  that  (14)  closes  the  introduction  by 
dividing  the  subject  preparatory  to  the  argument 
proper.  Arranging  this  material  in  the  orderly 
form  of  a  brief,  we  have  the  following. 

INTRODUCTION 

I.  The  return  of  the  grand  penal  bill  gives  Parlia 
inent  another  opportunity  to  choose  a  plan  for 
managing  the  American  colonies  (1). 
II.  Having  studied  the  subject,  Burke  has  arrived  at 

fixed  ideas  of  imperial  policy  (2). 

III.  Burke's  sentiments  have  not  changed  (3);  but 
Parliament  has  frequently  changed  its  policy, 
with  disastrous  results  (4). 


131     BURKE'S   SPEECH   ON  CONCILIATION 

IV.  Burke  ventures  to  address  the  House,  for, 

A.  Those  opposing  the  ministry  must  now  pro 

duce  their  plan  (5). 

B.  Though  Burke  is   reluctant  (6),   the  awful 

situation  makes  it  his  duty  to  do  good 
if  he  can  (7). 

C.  Burke's  insignificance  will  ensure  a  discus 

sion  of  his  plan  wholly  on  its  merits  (8). 
V.  Burke's      proposition    is     to    secure    peace     by 
removing  the  grounds  of  difference  (9). 

VI.  Burke's   plan,  simple    and   very    different   from 

Lord  North's  (10),    derives    advantages    from 
the  latter's  presentation  (11),  for, 

A.  By  accepting  Lord  North's  plan,  the  House 

has  voted  that  the  idea  of  conciliation  is 
admissible  (11). 

B.  By  accepting  Lord  North's  plan,  the  House 

has  voted  that  the  idea  of  conciliation  is 
admissible  previous  to  submission  by  the 
colonies  (12) 

C.  By  accepting  Lord  North's  plan,  the  House 

has  voted  that  complaints  in  regard  to 
taxation  are  not  wholly  unfounded 
(12). 

D.  Burke's  plan  is  based  upon  the  same  prin 

ciple  as  Lord  North's,  that  of  concilia* 
tion  (13). 

VII.  The  proposal  for  peace  ought  to  originate  with 

England,  the  superior  powder  (13). 

VIII.  The  two  leading  questions  are:  Whether  Eng 
land  ought  to  concede;  and,  What  the  con 
cession  should  be ;  the  determination  of  which 
depends  upon  the  actual  condition  and  circum 
stances  of  America  and  not  upon  abstractions 
or  theories  (14). 


LOGICAL  STRUCTURE  135 

BRIEF  PROPER 

A.  ENGLAND    SHOULD     CONCILIATE    THE     AMERICAN 

COLONIES  (15-64),  FOR, 

I.  The  nature  and  condition  of  America  require 
conciliation  (15),  for — [Read  (15-30),  and  having 
discovered  A,  B,  C  and  D,  set  them  down  in 
complete  sentences  reading  as  reasons  for  I. 
Follow  the  form  of  the  Introduction  VI] . 
II.  Those  who  advocate  force  against  America  are 
wrong  (31),  for— [Read  (32-35),  and  having 
found  the  reasons,  §et  them  down  as  before]. 

III.  [Express  (36)  in  form  similar  to  I  above.     A  (37) 

is  followed  by  reasons,  which  should  be  marked 
1,  2,  etc.] 

IV.  This  unnatural  contention  has  shaken  all  fixed 

principles  of  government  (45-46),   for — [Mark 
the  three  evil  effects  A,  B  and  C] . 
V.  Of  the  only  three  ways  of  dealing  with  America, 
we  must  adopt  the  third  (47),  for, 

A.  The  first  way  (to  remove  the  causes  of  the 

American  spirit)  is  impossible  (48-57)  for 
— [Find  the  reasons,  marking  them  1,  2, 
etc.,  and  if  reasons  for  1,  or  2,  etc.,  are 
given,  mark  them  a,  b,  c,  etc.]. 

B.  [Supply  the  thought.      Keep  the  form  of 

sentence  used  for  A  just  above.  ] 

C.  The  third  way,  to  comply  with  the  Ameri 

can  spirit,  we  must,  therefore,  adopt  (64). 

B.  THE  MEASURES  OF  CONCILIATION  ADOPTED  SHOULE. 

SATISFY    THE    AMERICAN    COMPLAINT    AGAINST 
TAXATION  (65-88),  FOR, 

I.  To  please  any  people,  you  must  give  them  the 

boon  they  ask  (65). 
II,  To  refuse  satisfaction  on  the  ground  of  a  legal 


136     BUKKE'S  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 

right  to  tax  is  illogical  (60),  for— [Read  (66-68) 
to  find  reasons.  Reason  A  is  implied  in  the 
f]uestions  in  (68)]. 

III.  [Express  (70)  in  the  form  of  sentence  used  in  II, 

just  above,  "To  refuse,"  etc.  Read  (71-74)  for 
reasons.  ] 

IV.  [Express  (75)  in  the  form  of  sentence  used  in  II. 

Reason  A  (last  sentence  of  75).     Reason  B  (76).] 
V.  Such  satisfaction  would  be  in  accordance  with 
four  great  constitutional  precedents  (77-78),  for 
—[Phrase  A,  B,  C,  D,  (79-87),  and  E  (88),  with 
reasons,  if  any  are  given,  under  each]. 
C.  SATISFACTION    OF    THE   AMERICAN    COMPLAINT   Is 
POSSIBLE  WITHOUT  GRANTING  REPRESENTATION 
IN  PARLIAMENT  (89  AND  90),  FOR, 
I.  Parliament  would  give  satisfaction  (in  part)  by 
ceasing    to    impose    taxes   and    declaring    the 
competency  of  colonial  grants  (91),  and  record 
ing  its  belief  in  the  following  resolutions  (92-93) . 

A.  That   the   colonies  are  not  represented  in 

Parliament  (93). 

B.  That    the  colonies    have  been    grieved  by 

taxes  (94-95),  for, 

1,  It  is  a  grievance  to  be  hurt  in  one's  privi 
leges,  irrespective  of  the  money  involved 
(96).  [Supply  2,  3,  etc.,  from  the  rest  of 
paragraph  (96).] 

[C  (97),  D  (98),  D  1  (99),  E  (100),  E  1  (100-105), 

F  (106-108).] 
II.  Parliament  would  give  satisfaction  (in  part)  also 

by  repealing  the  Acts  named  in  the  Resolution 

(109),  for, 

A.  The  Boston  Port  Bill  is  unjust  (110)  for— 
[Find  in  (110)  two  reasons,  1  and  2]. 

[B  (111),  C  (112),  D  (113),  with  reasons,  if 
any  are  given.] 


LOGICAL  STRUCTURE  137 

III.  [Read  (114-118).     Express  the  thought  in  the  form 

of  sentence  used  in  I  and  II,  just  above.] 

IV.  The  argument   that  the   grievance  of   taxation 

extends   to  all  legislation  cannot  stand  (118), 
for — [Read  to  (121),  finding  reasons]. 
V.   [Express  ( 122)  in  the  form  of  sentence  used  in  IV, 

just  above.] 

VI.  The  foregoing  plan  of  satisfying  the  American 
complaint  is  better  than  Lord  North's    (123), 
for — [Read  (124-182),  drawing  off  the  reasons]. 
VIL    [Express  ( 133)  in  the  form  of  IV,  just  above.    Find 
reasons.  ] 

CONCLUSION 

I.  The  real  ties  that  bind  the  colonies  to  the  Empire 
are  not  laws,  but  ties  of  loyalty  and  affection 
(137-138). 
II.   [Find  in  paragraph   (139)  a  single  sentence  that 

expresses  the  thought.] 

III.  Burke  therefore  moves  the  following  resolution 
[as  given  in  (140-155)], 


NOTES 

H  [1]     8ir     The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

austerity  of  the  Chair.  The  severe  impartiality  of  the 
speaker. 

my  motion.     At  the  end  of  the  speech 

grand  penal  bill,  Lord  North's  bill  ;proposed  Feb.  10, 1775) 
entitled  "An  Act  to  restrain  the  Commerce  of  the  Provinces 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Hampshire,  and  Colonies 
of  Connecticut  and  Rhode?  Island,  and  Providence  Planta 
tion,  in  North  America,  to  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the 
British  Islands  in  the  West  Indies,  and  to  prohibit  such 
Provinces  and  Colonies  from  carrying-  on  any  Fishery  on 
the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  other  places  therein 
mentioned,  under 'Certain  conditions  and  limitations."  By 
this  bill  thousands  of  New  England  fishermen  were  to  be 
reduced  to  beggary , 

is  to  be  returned  to  us.  The  Lords  wanted  the  bill  amended 
so  that  it  should  apply  to  other  American  colonies  besides 
those  of  New  England 

mixture  of  coercion  and  restraint.  A.  contemptuous  name  for 
the  Grand  Penal  Bill,  incongruous  with  conciliation.  Burke 
cannot  mean  that  coercion  is  incongruous  with  restraint. 

II  [2]  blown  about.  Ephesians  iv,  14.  In  this  and  adjacent 
lines  Burke  refers  to  the  rapid  changes  of  opinion  in  and 
out  of  Parliament  as  to  the  best  way  to  deal  with  the  col 
onies.  Parliament  passed  the  Stamp  Act  one  year  and 
repealed  it  the  next. 

IT  [3]  At  that  period.  The  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  The 
vote  stood  275  for  the  repeal,  161  against, 

1  [4]  Everything  administered  as  remedy.  The  Tea-Tax, 
Boston  Port  Bill,  Massachusetts  Colony  Bill,  Transporta 
tion  Bill,  and  Quebec  Act. 

her  present  situation.    The  colonies  were  preparing  for  war 
Lexington  was  fought  within  a  month, 
133 


NOTES  139 

Tl  [5]  a,  worthy  member.  Mr.  Rose  Fuller.  A  year  before^ 
Burke  had  delivered  his  speech  on  American  Taxation  on 
a  motion  by  Mr.  Fuller  to  repeal  the  tax  on  tea. 

American  committee.  The  whole  House  of  Commons  sit 
ting1  as  a  committee  on  American  affairs.  A  *' committee 
of  the  whole  "  chooses  its  own  chairman —some  member, 
not  the  speaker. 

our  former  methods.  The  methods  of  "  the  opposition," 
(the  minority  party  or  parties)  which  had  been  confined  to 
criticism  of  measures  proposed  by  the  ministry  (chosen 
from  the  majority  party). 

platform.     Plan. 

M  \Q]  seat  of  authority.  Here  means  the  government  min 
istry. 

disreputably.  Ill-timed  propositions  discredit  the  maker 
of  them. 

H  [?]  paper  government.  Merely  on  paper,  theoretical,  in 
capable  of  being1  put  into  operation  because  not  practical 
A  reference  perhaps  to  the  scheme  of  g-overnment  which 
the  philosopher  Locke  drew  up  for  Carolina. 

separated  from  the  execution.  A  plan  which  is  not  to  be 
executed  bv  the  one  who  drafted  it. 

my  caution.     My  disinclination  to  bring- for  ward  a  plan. 

laid  hold  on,    I  Timothy  vi,  19.     Hebrews  vi,  18. 

TI  [8]  natural.  Arising1  from  ability,  adventitious-  Aris 
ing-  from  rank,  title,  wealth,  or  other  external  circum 
stance. 

1  [9]  discord  fomented  from  principle.  Burke  refers  to  the 
principle  underlying1  Lord  North's  project  (see  note  on 
1  10)  to  weaken  the  colonies  by  dividing1  them  into  two 
classes, 

juridical.  Purely  legal  and  technical,  without  reference 
to  equity  and  justice.  Compare  ^  66. 

shadowy  boundaries,  ^Limits  of  power  in  regard  to  the 
right  to  tax.  The  Tories  held  that  the  right  to  tax  the 
colonies  was  Implied  in  Parliament's  general  right  of  legis 
lation.  The  radical  Whigs  held  to  the  contrary.  The 
Whigs  of  Burke's  type  waived  the  question  of  legal  right 
and  declared  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  tax  the  colonies, 
whether  Parliament  had  the  legal  right,  or  not. 


MO  NOTES 

unsuspecting  confidence.  Italicized  because  used  by  the 
Congress  at  Philadelphia  in  1774  to  express  the  state 
of  feeling'  in  the  colonies  after  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act. 

If  ftO]  the  project.  February  20, 1775,  Lord  North  brought 
in  resolutions,  entitled  "  Propositions  for  Conciliating  the 
Differences  with  America,"  which  were  agreed  to  by  the 
House  February  27,  as  follows*  "That  when  the  governor, 
council,  or  assembly,  or  general  court,  of  any  of  his  Majes 
ty's  provinces  or  colonies  in  America,  shall  propose  to 
make  provision,  according  to  the  condition,  circumstances, 
arid  situation  of  such  province  or  colony,  for  contributing 
their  proportion  to  the  common  defense  (such  proportion 
to  be  raised  under  the  authority  of  the  general  court  or 
general  assembly  of  such  province  or  colony,  and  dispos 
able  by  Parliament),  and  shall  engage  to  make  provision 
also  for  the  support  of  the  civil  government  and  the  ad 
ministration  of  justice,  in  such  province  or  colony,  it  will 
be  proper,  if  such  proposal  shall  be  approved  by  his 
Majesty  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  for 
so  long  as  such  provision  shall  be  made  accordingly, 
to  forbear,  in  respect  of  such  province  or  colony,  to  levy 
any  duty,  tax,  or  assessment,  or  to  impose  any  further 
duty,  tax,  or  assessment,  except  such  duties  as  it  may  be 
expedient  to  continue  to  levy  or  impose,  for  regulation  of 
commerce;  the  net  produce  of  the  duties  last  mentioned 
to  be  carried  to  the  account  of  such  province  or  colony 
respectively  " 

noble  lord  Lord  North,  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  wore  the 
badge  of  that  order,  a  blue  ribbon, 

colony  agents  The  colonies  not  having  direct  representa 
tion  in  Parliament  engaged  agents  to  watch  legislation 
and  otherwise  look  after  colony  interests  there.  Frank 
lin  was  once  such  an  agent  for  Pennsylvania,  Massachu 
setts,  Maryland,  and  Georgia,  and  Burke  himself  was 
agent  for  New  York  for  a  short  time. 

*fl  fll]    registry,    In  the  House  journals. 

resolution.  Lord  North's  project.  The  advantage  lay  In 
the  use  of  the  word  "  conciliating- "  In  the  title  of  Lord 
North's  resolutions, 


NOTES  141 

menacing  front  of  vur  address.  Feb.  9,  1775,  Parliament 
had  presented  an  address  to  the  king-  declaring"  that  no 
part  of  his  authority  over  the  colonies  should  be  relin 
quished.  For  the  use  of  front,  see  Othello  I,  iii,  80. 

bills  of  pains  and  'penalties.  Two  of  these  bills  were  the 
Boston  Port  Bill  and  the  Grand  Penal  Bill. 

tdeas  of  free  grace.    Voluntary  concessions. 

H  [121  it  has  declared  .  .  .  and  has  admitted.  By  the 
very  fact  of  agreeing  to  Lord  North's  resolutions. 

1  [13]     I  shall  endeavour  to  show.    See  T[  124  to  If  131. 

1  [14]     the  object.    The  colonies. 

1  [16]  minima.  Trifles.  De  minimis  non  curat  lex,  the  law 
takes  no  account  of  trifles.  The  logical  subject  of  this 
sentence  is  America. 

U  [1~3  ground  has  "been  trod.  The  matter  has  beer-  dis 
cussed,  some  days  ago.  March  16. 

person.    Mr.  Glover,  esteemed  a  poet  in  his  day. 

at  your  bar.  The  bar  is  a  rod  across  the  entry  to  the 
chamber  in  which  Parliament  sits.  Members  and  officers 
alone  are  admitted  within  the  bar. 

1  [19]  comparative  state.  A  statement  making  compari 
sons. 

on  your  table.    Officially  before  you. 

Davenani.  Appointed  inspector-general  of  exports  and 
imports  in  1705. 

1  [20]  The  African,  The  slave  trade,  principally ;  hence 
rightfully  regarded  by  Burke  as  a  branch  or  England1  a 
export  trade  to  the  colonies,  since  the  slaves  were  taken  to 
the  colonies  and  sold, 

t  [25]    It  is  good,  etc.     Mark  ix,  5. 

Clouds,  indeed,  etc,     Addison,  Cato  V,  i:  — 
The  wide  th' unbounded  Prospect  lies  before  me 
And  Shadows,  Clouds,  and  Darkness,  rest  upon  it. 

Lord  Bathnrst.  Born  1684;  took  his  seat  in  Parliament  in 
1705;  died  Sept.,  1775. 

angel.    The  guardian  angel. 

the  fourth  generation,  the  third  prince.  George  the  Third  \vas 
the  grandson  of  George  the  Second. 

made  Great  Britain.  By  the  Act  of  Union  (1707)  En^.and 
a*"I  Scotland  became  one. 


14*  NOTES 

Higher  rank.     Bathurst  was  made  Earl  in  17T2. 

a  new  one.  His  son  was  made  Lord  Chancellor  with  the 
title  of  Baron  Apsley  the  year  previous. 

taste  of  death.     Matthew  xvi,  28. 

If  [28]  deceive  the  burthen.  Lighten  the  burden  by  beguil 
ing-  the  burden-bearer.  A  Latinism  (fallere). 

II  [29]     corn.     Grain. 

Roman  charity,  etc.  A  reference  to  an  old  Roman  story, 
one  version  of  which  is  that  Cymon,  having1  'been  con 
demned  to  die  by  starvation,  was  kept  alive  by  his  daughter 
Xanthippe,  who  visited  him  in  prison  and  nourished  him 
from  her  own  breasts. 

1  [30]  fierjwnt.  A  constellation  within  the  Antarctic 
Circle. 

Falkland  Island  ....  national  ambition.  Spain  and  Eng 
land  disputed  the  ownership  of  these  islands  in  1770.  Many 
Englishmen  thought  them  not  worth  fighting  for.  Spain 
yielded  before  war  broke  out.  These  islands  were  supply 
stations  for  whalers. 

run  the  longitude.  Literally,  sail  east  or  west ;  here,  south 
west. 

vexed.     Agitated.     A  Latinism  (vexare). 

H  [31]     completions.    Temperament. 

military  art.  Several  army  men  in  the  House,  including 
General  Burgoyne,  had  made  speeches  advocating  the  use 
jf  force  against  the  colonies. 

ivield  the  thunder.  An  allusion  to  Jupiter  and  his  thunder 
bolts.  Lord  North  as  prime  minister  might  be  said  to 
"  wield  the  thunder  of  the  state." 

M  [34]  British  strength.  The  colonists  were  Englishmen. 
It  was  for  their  rights  as  Englishmen  that  they  were  con 
tending. 

(t  foreign  enemy.  France  or  Spain  might  take  advantage 
of  England  when  England  was  engaged  in  war  with  her 
colonies. 

"i  [35]  Uur  qncient  indulgence.  Our  former  kindness  to 
the  colonies. 

our  penitence.    Our  recent  policy  of  coercion. 

1]  [37]  restive.  Properly  means  stubborn.  Here  used  in 
the  sense  of  restless. 


NOTES  143 

IT  [38]  when.  In  the  times  preceding  the  establishment 
of  the  Commonwealth. 

sensible  object.  An  object  capable  of  being-  perceived  by 
the  senses. 

ancient  commonwealths.     Rome  and  the  states  of  Greece. 

several  orders.     Several  ranks  or  classes  of  the  people. 

greatest  spirits.     Pym,  Hampden,  Vane. 

^f  [39]     popular.     Controlled  by  the  people. 

I  [40]     of  that  kind.    Dissenters  from  the  Church  of  Eng 
land. 

dissidence  of  dissent.  Dissent  carried  to  the  extreme. 
Matthew  Arnold  uses  this  phrase  (of  Hooker's)  in  Culture 
and  Anarchy,  eh.  I,  21. 

the  establishments.    The  state  churches. 

1[  [41]     Gothic.     Teutonic. 

were  the  Poles.  Burke  uses  the  past  tense  were  because 
he  is'  speaking-  of  the  Poles  before  1772,  the  year  of  the 
Partition  of  Poland  between  Austria,  Russia  and  Prus 
sia. 

II  [42]     liy  successful  chicane.    Gen.  Gage  forbade  the  col 
onists   from  calling  any  town   meetings  after  August  1, 
1774.     They  evaded  the  order  by  adjourning  over  the  n'rst 
to  a  time  definite ;  by  continuing  this  process  of  keeping 
alive  the  same  adjourned  meeting  they  obviated  the  neces 
sity  of  calling  a  meeting.     Consult  Hosmer,  Samuel  Adams. 
322"-323. 

friend.  Thurlow,  the  attornej'-general.  who  was  taking 
notes  of  Burke's  speech,  on  the  floor.  The  lowest  tier  of 
benches,  occupied  by  members  of  the  cabinet. 

If  [43]  ivinged  ministers  of  vengeance.  Ships,  which  are 
compared  to  the  eagle  that  carried  Jupiter's  thunderbolts 
in  its  pounces,  or  talons. 

No  far  shalt  thou  go.     Job  xxxviii,  11. 

1  [45]     with  all  its  imperfections,  etc.     Hamlet  I,  v 

Lord  Dunmore.     Governor  of  Virginia 

If  [46]  abrogated  the  ancient  government  of  Ma&sacliusetts. 
In  1774,  an  act  of  Parliament  forbade  the  people  of  Massa 
chusetts  to  hold  town  meetings  except  by  permission  of 
the  royal  governor ;  gave  to  the  royal  governor  the  power 
to  appoint  and  remove  at  pleasure  all  judges  and  magis- 


144  NOTES 

trates,  including-  sheriffs,  and  charged  the  sheriffs  with 
the  duty  of  summoning*  jurymen.  The  object  was  of  course 
to  make  the  courts  mere  creatures  of  the  royal  will. 

11  [47]    inconvenient.    Troublesome. 

giving  up  the  colonies.  This  was  seriously  proposed  and  de 
fended  by  Dr.  Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester,  in  1774,  on  the 
ground  that  England  would  have  the  trade  of  the  colonies 
whether  she  owned  them  or  not,  if  she  offered  them  the  best 
markets. 

TI  [50]  English  Tartars.  The  allusion  is  to  the  hordes  of 
Tartars  and  Mongols  who  under  Genghis  Khan  (1160-1227) 
and  Timour  (1336-1405)  swept  over  Asia,  conquering  as  they 
went. 

Increase  and  multiply.  Paradise  Lost  X,  730.  Genesis  i, 
28. 

children  of  men.    Psalms  cxv,  16. 

wax  and  parchment.    Legal  forms. 

1  [53]    your  speech.    Matthew  xxvi,  73.    Judges  xii,  6. 

IF  [54]     burn  their  books.     Acts  xix,  19. 

chargeable.    Expensive. 

IF  [55]  7ios  had  its  advocates.  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  pam 
phlet,  Taxation  no  Tyranny,  favored  this  plan.  In  1775, 
Governor  Dunmore  of  Virginia  threatened  to  try  this  plan. 

other  people.  For  instance,  the  Romans  after  Cannae 
armed  8,000  slaves  and  allowed  them  to  earn  their  freedom 
by  valor. 

1[  [56]  their  refusal.  In  the  years  preceding  the  Revolu 
tion  attempts  were  repeatedly  made  by  the  legislatures  of 
Virginia  and  other  southern  colonies  to  restrict  the  slave 
trade,  but  the  English  government  prevented  the  restriction 
each  time,  in  the  interest  of  English  traders. 

Angola.  On  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  Noted  for  its 
activity  in  the  slave  trade. 

Guinea  captain.  The  captain  of  an  English  ship  engaged 
in  the  Guinea  trade. 

IF  [57]  Ye  gods,  etc.  Quoted  as  an  example  of  hyperbole 
in  chapter  xi  of  The  Art  of  Sinking  in  Poetry  written  by 
Arbuthriot,  Pope  and  Swift. 

IF  [59]  Si)-  Edward  Coke.  At  Raleigh's  trial  for  treason 
(1603),  Coke,  then  attorney  general,  assailed  Raleigh  in  most 


NOTES  145 

unjust  and  brutal  terms:  "Thou  art  a  monster  P  "Thou 
hast  a  Spanish  heart,  and  thyself  art  a  spider  of  hell !" 
Raleigh  was  accused  of  having  a  part  in  the  plots  against 
James  the  First. 

T  [60]  ex  vi  termini.  From  the  meaning  of  the  word; 
from  the  force  of  the  term. 

T  [61]  civil  litigant.  A  party  to  a  suit  in  which  a  right 
(not  a  crime)  is  the  subject  of  dispute ;  in  this  case,  England's 
right  to  tax  the  colonies,  a  culprit.  Because,  if  Parliament 
decides  that  it  has  the  right  to  tax,  America  is  criminal  in 
resisting. 

"f  [62]     those  very  persons.    The  majority  in  Parliament. 

declaring  a  rebellion.    February  9,  1775. 

formerly  addressed.  February  13,  1769.  addressed.  Pe 
titioned  the  king. 

If  [66]  startle.  Are  startled.  Startle  is  now  used  transi 
tively. 

great  Serbonian  bog,  etc.  Paradise  Lost  II,  592-594.  The 
great  Serbonian  bog  is  Lake  Serbonis  between  Damiata,  a 
town  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kile  and  Mt.  Casius,  on  the  coast 
farther  east. 

*f  [67]     unity  of  spirit.    Ephesians  iv,  3.  » 

^  [69]     a  revenue  act.     The  Stamp  Act,   repealed  in  1766. 

understood  principle.  As  an  act  for  raising  revenue,  not 
for  controlling  trade. 

1f  [70]  American  financiers.  Members  of  Parliament 
who  still  think  America  can  be  made  to  yield  England  a 
revenue. 

have  further  views.  Will  keep  asking  for  further  conces 
sions. 

trade  laws.    The  Navigation  Acts  were  the  chief  trade  laws. 

a  gentleman,  etc.    Mr.  Rice. 

?  [71]  acts  of  navigation.  One  of  these  acts  secured  to 
England  the  lion's  share  of  the  carrying  trade  by  forbidding 
every  other  nation  to  bring  to  England  or  to  her  colonies  ony 
thing  but  the  actual  products  of  that  nation ;  another  foroade 
the  colonies  to  send  exports,  directly,  anywhere  except  to 
England  or  to  other  English  colonies ;  by  another,  all  exports 
from  the  colonies  to  England  must  be  shipped  in  American 
or  English  vessels. 


146  NOTES 

If  [73]  the  pamphlet.  Written  by  Dean  Tucker.  See  note 
to  1  47. 

1f  [75]  But  the  colonies  ivill  go  further.  The  objection  of 
Burke's  opponents. 

H   [78]     Philip  the  Second.    King  of  Spain,  1556-1598. 

English  constitution.  Partly  denned  in  the  preceding  para 
graph;  not  a  single  document  like  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  but  all  of  the  important  state  documents  (such 
as  Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights)  as  well  as  the  his. 
torical  traditions,  precedents,  long  established  principles,  in 
stitutions,  and  the  enacted  laws. 

If  [79]  English  conquest.  See  Green.  Short  History  of  the 
English  People,  ch.  vii,  sec.  viii. 

Magna  Charta.  See  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English 
People,  ch.  iii,  sees,  ii  and  iii. 

all  Ireland.  English  settlers  in  Ireland  kept  within  certain 
limits  called  the  Pale.  "  Beyond  the  Pale  "  English  laws  and 
liberties  were  not  enjoyed. 

Sir  John  Davis  (or  Dames) .  Published  in  1612  the  book  to 
which  Burke  refers,  entitled  Discovery  of  the  true  Causes 
why  Ireland  was  never  entirely  subdued  nor  brought  under 
Obedience  of  the  Crown  of  England  until  the  Beginning 
of  his  Majesty's  happy  Reign.  (Jarnes  the  First  was 
king.) 

vain  projects.  See  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English 
people,  ch.  vii,  sec  viii. 

changed  the  people.  By  settling  parts  of  Ireland  with  Eng 
lish  and  Scotch. 

altered  the  religion.    From  Catholic  to  Protestant. 

deposed  kings.    Charles  the  First  and  James  the  Second- 

altered  the  succession.  By  the  Act  of  Settlement  (1701)  the 
House  of  Hanover  came  to  the  throne  in  1714. 

usurpation.    The  protectorate  of  Cromwell  1649-1660. 

restoration.    Charles  the  Second,  1660. 

Revolution.  In  1688  Parliament  deposed  James  the  Second 
and  i_ut  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  on  the  throne. 

lucrative  amount,    Irony. 

t  [80]  Henry  the  Third.  1216-1272.  Edward  the  First. 
1272-1307. 

lords  marchers.      Lords  of  the  marches    (border-lands)  be- 


NOTES  14? 

tween  England  and  Wales.  Each  had  the  authority  of  a  king 
in  his  own  district,  which  he  had  conquered. 

*l  [81]  question  on  the  legality.  Burke  implies  (hat  an  act 
of  Parliament  was  required,  instead  of  a  mere  instruction 
(an  executive  order). 

<|    [82]     rid.    Rode. 

•|    [83]     day-star.    2  Peter  i,  19. 

*1  [84]  county  palatine.  A  county  in  which  the  owner 
had  royal  power. 

^1   [85 j     Shown  t  predicate  of  inhabitants. 

where.    Whereas. 

disherisons.    Deprivations. 

commonwealth.    Common  weal,  common  welfare. 

ne.     Nor. 

"I  [86]  Reject  it,  etc.  These  questions  ehow  the  kii  d  oi 
treatment  that  had  been  accorded  to  the  addresses  arid  peti 
tions  of  the  American  colonists. 

temperament.     Modification. 

*I  [88]  Judge  Barrinyton.  Appointed  justice  of  three 
counties  in  Wales  in  1757. 

But  your  legislative  authority  is  perfect,  etc.  (So  my  oppo 
nents  say.; 

legislative  authority.    Authority,  or  legal  right,  to  legislate. 

Bid  America  is  virtually  represented.  ( So  my  opponents 
eay.)  virtually  represented.  When  the  radical  Whigs  argued 
that  representation  is  a  "  natural  right"  and  that  there  could 
legally  be '•  no  taxation  without  representation,"  the  Tories 
replied  that  America  was  '*  virtually"  represented.  The  doc 
trine  of  virtual  representation  implied  that  even  though  the 
Americans  had  no  members  of  Parliament  of  their  own 
choosing,  yet  Parliament  as  constituted  represented  the 
Americans  since  every  member  of  Parliament  is  in  duty 
bound  to  care  for  the  interests,  not  merely  of  his  own  con 
stituency,  but  of  the  whole  empire. 

If  [89].    arm shortened.    Isaiah  lix.  1. 

1  [90]  rude  swain.  Milton,  Comus,  634,  635.  Milton 
has  "dull  swain."  clouted  shoon.  Shoes  with  big-headed  nails 
in  the  soles. 

1763.  The  first  year  of  the  Grenville  administration,  which 
passed  the  Stamp  Act. 


148  NOTES 

!T  [91]  by  grant.  By  the  voluntary  contribution  of  the 
colonies  through  act  of  their  own  legislative  assemblies. 

by  imposition.    By  a  tax  imposed  by  Parliament. 

H  [92]  temple  of  British  concord.  An  allusion  to  the  tem 
ple  which  the  Romans  dedicated  to  Concord. 

^  [93]    fourteen.    Including  the  Province  of  Quebec. 

description.    The  particular  names. 

U  [94]     like  unto.    Matthew  xxii,  39. 

IT  [95]     touch  ivith  a  tool.    Exodus  xx,  25. 

ivise  beyond  what  was  written.    1  Corinthians  iv,  6. 

form  of  sound  words.      2  Timothy  i,  13. 

IT  [96]  the  sixth  (act)  of  George  II.  An  act  for  the  better 
securing  of  the  trade  of  his  Majesty's  sugar'colonies  in  America. 

Lord  Hillsborough.  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies, 
1768  to  1772. 

1  [99]  an  aid.  Originally  an  aid  was  a  grant  of  money 
voluntarily  made  by  a  tenant  to  his  lord. 

those  who  hare  been  pleased,  etc.  Grenville,  Prime  Minister 
1763-5,  and  originator  of  the  Stamp  Act. 

if  the  crown  could  be  responsible.  Whatever  the  sovereign 
of  England  does  officially  is  done  by  the  advice  of  his  minis 
ters,  who  are  held  responsible.  In  this  sense  "The  King  can 
do  no  wrong." 

the  council.  The  Privy  Council.  A  body  of  selected  advis 
ers  to  the  sovereign. 

first  lords  of  trade.    A  committee  of  the  Council. 

^1   [100]     so  high.    So  far  back. 

1  [105]     misguided  people.    The  English. 

unhappy  system.  That  of  taxing  America  instead  of  depend 
ing  on  America's  voluntary  grants. 

state.    Statement. 

those  untaxed  people.    Those  who  were  said  to  &e  untaxed. 

requisitions.  Demands  for  money  addressed  by  the  English 
Secretary  of  State  to  the  colonies,  to  be  met  by  voluntary 
grants.  This  process  involved  an  act  of  the  colonial  legisla 
tures,  which  might  refuse  a  grant.  Burke  repeatedly  insists 
on  the  fundamental  distinction  between  money  thus  secured 
and  taxes  imposed  by  Parliament  without  any  act  of  the  colo 
nial  legislatures. 

TI   [107]     utmost  rights.    Taxing  the  unrepresented. 


NOTES  149 

another  legal  body.    The  colonial  legislature. 

TI  [109]     clandestine  running.    Smuggling. 

1[  [110]  during  the  king's  pleasure.  The  Boston  Port  Bill 
provided  that  the  King  was  to  decide  when  the  port  should  be 
reopened. 

restraining  bill.  Another  name  for  the  Grand  Penal  Bill 
See  note  to  ^[  1. 

partially.    Unfairly. 

1[  [111]  far  less  power.  The  crown  did  not  have  the  veto 
power  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 

returning  officer.  The  officer  who  summoned  the  jury.  The 
object  of  the  regulation  was  to  secure  verdicts  favorable  to  the 
crown. 

t  [112]  temporary.  The  act  was  to  continue  in  force  three 
years  from  June  1, 1774. 

•j  [115]  courts  of  admiralty.  These  had  jurisdiction  in 
the  case  of  offenses  committed  on  the  sea,  including  cases  of 
smuggling,  which  were  tried  without  a  jury. 

more  decent  maintenance.  These  judges  were  paid  out  of 
the  fines  which  they  imposed  ;  hence  the  temptation  to  excess 
ive  fines  and  numerous  seizures. 

U  [120]  logical  illation.  In  the  Speech  on  American  Tax 
ation  Burke  uses  the  expression,  "too  much  logic  and  too  little 
sense." 

immediate  jewel.    Othello,  III,  iii,  156. 

a  great  house  .  .  .  slaves  haughty.  Juvenal,  Satires,  V,  06, 
has:  Maxima  quaeque  domus  servis  est  plena  superbis. 
Every  great  house  is  full  of  haughty  slaves. 

cords  of  man.    Hosea  xi,  4. 

Aristotle  .  .  .  cautions  us.    Aristotle,  Ethics,  I,  iii. 

1[  [121]  superintending  legislature.  In  his  Speech  on  Amer 
ican  Taxation  Burke  says :  "The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
Bits  at  the  head  of  her  extensive  empire  in  two  capacities: 
One  as  the  local  legislature  of  this  island,  providing  for  all 
things  at  home,  immediately,  and  by  no  other  instrumen 
than  the  executive  power. — The  other,  and  I  think  her  nobler 
capacity,  is  what  I  call  her  imperial  character;  in  which,  as 
from  the  throne  of  Heaven,  she  superintends  all  the  several 
inferior  legislatures,  and  guides  and  controls  them  all,  without 
annihilating  any." 


150  NOTES 

1f  [122J  a  separate  .  .  .  legislature.  The  Irish  Parliament 
was  abolished  in  1800.  See  Green,  Short  History  of  the  Eng 
lish  People ,  ch.  x,  sec,  iv. 

V   [123]    promised.    See  If  13. 

the  proposition  of  the  noble  lord.    See  note  to  *J[  10. 

If  [125]  ante-chamber  of  the  noble  lord.  The  Cabinet  or  a 
committee  of  the  Cabinet. 

state  auctioneer.    Compare  If  10. 

back-door.    Some  committee. 

quarrelling.    Compare  If  10. 

I  [126]     quantum.    Amount. 

If  [128J  composition.  Agreement.  A  creditor  "com 
pounds"  with  an  insolvent  debtor  for  a  less  sum  than  the 
debt. 

you  give  its  death-wound.  Because  England  already  taxed 
imported  tobacco,  and  Virginia  tobacco  could  not  endure  an 
other  tax. 

If  [130]  treasury  extent.  A  writ  for  valuing  lands  of  a 
debtor  that  are  to  be  taken  in  payment  of  his  debt. 

empire  of  Germany.  Not  the  present  empire ;  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  is  meant. 

II  [132]     certain    colonies  only.    Only   those    that    should 
choose  to  contribute  instead  of  being  taxed. 

If   [133]     debt.    An  evidence  of  the  government's  credit. 

If  [134]  Ease  would  retract,  etc.  Paradise  Lost,  iv,  96-97. 
Milton  has  recant,  not  retract. 

If  [136]  return  in  loan.  The  reference  is  to  Lord  North's 
Indian  Act  of  1773,  by  which  £1,400,000  were  loaned  to  the 
East  India  Company  at  four  per  cent,  arid  the  annual  pay 
ment  of  £400,000  by  the  company  to  the  government  was 
remitted  until  the  loan  should  be  discharged. 

enemies.    France  and  Spain. 

If  [137]  ties  .  .  .  light  as  air.  Compare  Othello  III,  iii, 
322-324. 

links  of  iron.     Compare  Julius  Caesar  I.  iii,  94-95. 

grapple.    Compare  Hamlet  I,  iii,  63. 

turn  their  faces.  Compare  1  Kings  viii,  44,  45.  Danie] 
vi,  10. 

of  price.     Compare  Matthew  xiii,  46. 

cockets  .  .  .  clearances.     Most  of    the  nouns  of  this  sen- 


NOTES  151 

tence  are  custom-house  terms.  A  cocket  is  a  custom-house 
seal  or  certificate.  A  clearance  is  a  permit  for  a  vessel  to 
sail. 

spirit.  Compare  ./Eneid  vi,  726,  727.  Dryden's  translation, 
982-985 : 

One  common  soul 

Inspires  and  feeds  and  animates  the  whole. 
This  active  mind,  infus'd  through  all  the  space, 
Unites  and  mingles  with  the  mighty  mass. 

II  f  138 j  land  tax  act.  An  act  passed  by  Parliament  each 
year  for  raising  revenue. 

mutiny  bill.  A  bill  providing  for  the  discipline  of  army 
and  navy,  passed  by  Parliament  each  year. 

U  [139 J  profanehsrd.  Horace,  Odes,  III,  i,  1:  Odi  pro- 
famtm  vulgus.  I  hate  the  profane  herd. 

all  in  ah.    1  Corinthians  xv,  28. 

U  [141]  In  the  first  edition  of  this  speech,  which  has 
been  followed  by  almost  all  editors,  this  paragraph  reads  as 
follows:  "Upon  this  resolution,  the  previous  question  was 
put,  and  carried; — for  the  previous  question  270,  against  it 
78."  The  Parliamentary  History,  however,  gives  the  ayes 
as  78  and  the  nays  as  270  and  adds:  "So  it  passed  in  the  neg 
ative."  All  of  the  resolutions  advocated  by  Burke  in  this 
speech  failed  of  adoption.  This  result  was  brought  about  by 
an  adverse  vote  on  the  "previous  question."  In  America,  "1 
move  that  the  previous  question  be  now  put,"  stops  debate 
at  once,  and  a  vote  is  immediately  taken  on  tho  question 
"Shall  the  previous  question  be  now  put?"  If  the  vote  is 
adverse,  debate  may  continue.  But  in  England,  if  the  vote 
is  adverse  to  putting  the  previous  question,  debate  can  no' 
continue,  and  the  previous  question  (which  is  the  main  ques 
tion)  is  considered  to  be  disposed  of  in  the  negative.  By 
moving  the  "previous  question"  and  then  defeating  the 
motion,  Burke's  opponents  escaped  the  need  of  committing 
themselves  on  the  main  issues  raised  by  his  resolutions. 


INDEX 

Numbers  in  brackets  refer  to  paragraphs ;  other  numbers  refer  to  pages 


Abeunl  stadia,  etc.,  53  [42], 
Abrogated  the  ancient  government 

of  Massachusetts,  58  [46]  and  p.  143 

note  to  [46] . 
Abstract  ideas,  34  [14]. 
Abstract  liberty,  48  [38], 
Abstract  right,  69  [61]. 
Act  of  union,  40  [25]  and  p.  141  note 

to  [25];  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth, 

69  [62];    act  of  settlement,  p  1  Hi 

note  to  [79]. 
Ada parentum,  etc.,  40. 
Acts,  p.  144  note  to  [54], 
Addison.p.  141  note  to  [25]. 
Address,  32  [11]  and  p.  141  note  to 

[11] ;  69  [62]  and  p.  145  note  to  [62] ; 

p.  147  note  to  [88]. 
Admit  the  people  of  our  colonies  Into 

an  interest  in  the  constitution,  73 

[68];  118  [137]. 
African  trade,  37  [20]  and  p  141  note 

to  [20]. 

Agriculture  of  the  colonies,  42  [29]. 
Aid,  p.  148  note  to  [99]. 
All  in  all,  p.  151  note  to  [139]. 
America  worth  fighting  for,  45  [31], 
American  financiers,  74    [70]    and 

p.  145  note  to  [70]. 
Ancient    indulgence,    46    [35]    and 

p.  142  note  to  [35], 

Ancient  methods  and  forms,  32  [12], 
Angola  negroes,  65  [56]  and  p.  144 

note  to  [53]. 

Arbuthnot,  p.  144  note  to  [57]. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  p.  143  note  to  [40]. 


Art  of  Sinking  in  Poetry,  The,  p.  141 

note  to  [57]. 
Assemblies,  colonial  legislative,  49 

[39]. 
Auction  of  finance,  32  [10],  109  [124], 

111  [127]. 
Authority,  legislative,  87  [88]    and 

p  147  note  to  [88]. 

Bacon,  p.  144  note  to  53. 

Bar,  36  [171  and  p  141  note  to  [IT]. 

Barrington,  Judge,  87  [88]  and  p.  147 

note  to  [88]. 
Bathurst,  Lord,  40   [25]  and  p   141 

note  to  [25], 
Bengal,  118  [136]. 
Bibliography,  21. 
Bills  of  pains  and  penalties,  32  [11] 

and  p.  141  note  to  [11]. 
Blown  abont  by  every  wind,  26  [2j 

and  p.  138  note  to  [2], 
Books  of  curious  science,  64  [54]. 
Boston  Port  Bill,  p.  138  note  to  [4? ; 

100  [109];  101  [110],  and  p.  149  note 

to  [110]. 
Boundaries,   shadowy,  31    [9]    and 

p.  139  note  to  [9], 
British  Empire,  26  [2]  and  p.  149  note 

to  [121];  source  of  wealth  In  the, 

81  [79]. 
British  strength,  46  [34]  and  p  142 

note  to  [34]. 

Brunswick,  House  of,  40  [25]. 
Burgoyne,  General,  p.  142  note  to  45 

[31]. 


153 


154 


INDEX 


Burn  their  books,  64  [54*  and  p.  144 
note  to  [54], 

Burke,  Edmund,  born,  11;  religion, 
ll;  schooling,  11;  collegedays.il; 
habits  of  reading  11 ;  law  student, 
11;  goes  to  London,  12;  travels, 
12;  first  publications,  12;  marries, 
12-  Annual  Register,  12;  secretary 
to  Hamilton,  13;  pensioned,  13,19: 
luerary  club,  13;  secretary  to 
Rocidngham,  13;  first  election  to 
Parliament,  13;  opposes  the  king's 
policy,  13;  the  Wilkes  case,  14; 
elected  member  for  Bristol,  15; 
speeches  on  America,  15;  opposed 
to  armed  force,  15;  refuses  to  obey 
instructions,  15;  member  for  Mai- 
ton,  16;  disappointed  by  his  party, 
16;  party  services,  IG;  poverty  and 
debts,  16,  20;  charges  against 
honesty  of  16;  irritability,  16;  poli 
tical  enemies,  16;  refuses  office 
under  Shelburne,  16;  in  opposition 
with  Fox,  16;  Paymaster,  16,  17; 
advocates  reform  in  India,  16;  Im 
peaches  Hastings,  17;  opinions  of 
the  French  Revolution,  18;  retires 
from  parliament,  19;  death,  19; 
Johnson's  opinion  of,  20;  Mac- 
aulay's  opinion  of,  20;  permanent 
value  of  speeches,  20;  Fox's 
opinion  of,  20. 

Calamity,  public,  29  [7]. 
Carolina,  spirit  of  liberty  In.  51  i"41], 
Changes  in  parliament,  27  [4] 
Charity,  Reman,  13  [29]  and  p.  142 

note  to  [29], 
Charles,  the  First,  p.  146  note  to  [79] , 

the  Second,  p.  146  note  to  [79] 
Chatham,  105  [119], 
Chester,  84  [84]. 
Chicane,  52[42]   and  p.  143  note  to 

[42]. 

Children  of  men,  62  [50]. 
Church  of  England,  50  [40], 51  [41], 
Civil  litigant,  the  colonies  as,6»  [61] 

and  p.  145  note  to  [61]. 


Clouds  and  darkness,  39,  [25]  and 
p.  141  note  to  [25]. 

Cockets  and  clearances,  p.  150  note 
to  [137], 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  67  [59]  and  p.  144 
note  to  [59]. 

Colonies,  number  of  people  in,  34 
[15] ;  no  narrow  system  of  govern 
ment  suited  to,  35  [  16] ;  commerce 
of,  35-42  [17-28] ;  agriuul  ture  of.  42 
[29],  fisheries  of,  43  J30i;  owe 
nothing  to  English  care,  44  |30]; 
are  worth  lighting  for,  45  [311; 
temper  and  character  of,  47  [37  el. 
s&t.~\ ;  legislative  assemblies  of,  43 
[39] ;  rcJigion  of,  50  [40]  and  p.  143 
note  to  [40] ;  education  in,  52  [42] ; 
distance  from  England,  54  [45]; 
65  [57],  88  [89] ;  three  ways  to  deal 
with, 59  [40  et.seq.~\;  proposal  to 
give  up,  60  [47] ;  proposal  to  prose 
cute  as  criminals,  66  [58-59],  as 
civil  litigant  and  culprit,  69  [61]; 
the  complaint  of,  71  [65];  have 
further  views,  74  [70]  and  p.  145 
note  to  [70] ;  legal  competency  of, 
89  [91],94[99] ;  reimbursed, 95[  101  ]; 
should  be  admitted  to  an  interest 
in  the  constitution,  73  [68],113[137]. 

Colony  agents,  31  [10]  and  p.  140  note 
to  [10];  111  [127], 

Commerce,  35-42  [17-28]. 

( Committee  of  the  whole,  p.  139  note 
to  [5]. 

Comparative  state,  36  [19]  and  p.  141 
note  to  £19], 

Complexions,  45  [31]  and  p.  142  note 
to  [31]. 

Compromise  and  barter,  106  [120], 

Concessions  of  the  weak,  33  [13]. 

Conciliation  admissible,  32  [11  ]. 

Concord,  of  this  empire,  73  [R71; 
temple  of  89  [92]  and  p.  148  note  to 
[92]. 

Confidence,  former  unsuspecting,  31 
[9]  and  p.  139  note  to  [9], 

Connecticut,  101  [111]  and  p.  149  note 
to  [111]. 


INDEX 


355 


Constitution,  an  Interest  in  the,  73 

[68],  118  [137];  the  English,  78   [78] 

and  p  146  note  to  [78]. 
Cords  of  man,  107  [120]   and  p.  149 

note  to  [120]. 
Corinthians,  p.  143, 151,  notes  to  [95], 

[139]. 

Corn,  43  [29]  and  p.  142  note  to  [29], 
Council,  the  Privy, p.  148  note  to  [99]. 
County  Palatine,  p.  147  note  to  [84], 
Courts,  103  [114];  of  admiralty,  103 

[115]  and  p.  149  note  to  1115). 
Criminal  prosecution  of  colonies,  66 

[58-50]. 

Cromwell,  p.  146  note  to  [79], 
Culprit,  the  colonies  as,  69  [61]  and 

p.  145  note  to  [61], 
Culture  and  Anarchy,  p.  143  note  to 

[40]. 

Daniel,  p,  151  note  to  [137]. 
Davenant,  37  [19]  and  p.  141  note  to 

[19]. 
Davis,  Sir  John    TO  [79]  and  p.  149 

note  to  [79]. 
Davis's  Straits,  43  [30]. 
Day-star,  84  [83]  and  p.  147  note  to 

[83], 
Deceive  the  burthen  42  [28]  and  p. 

142  note  to  [28]. 
De  jure,  de  facto,  105  [119J. 
Delicate,  26  [2],  127. 
Discord,   fomented  from  principle, 

3D  [9]  and  p.  139  n  te  to  [9] ;  ruling 

by,  31  [9]  and  p.  139  note  to  [9], 
Disreputably,  29  [6]  and  p.  139  note 

to  [6J. 

Disddence  of  dissent,  50  [40]. 
Distance  of  the  colonies  from  Eng 
land,  54  [43]. 
Doctrine,  fashionable,  27   [2]   and  p. 

138  note  to  [2]. 
Dryden,  p.  151  note  to  [137 J. 
Dnnmore,  Lord,  57  [45]  and  p.  143 

notes  to  [4o]  and  to  p.  144  [55]. 
Durham,  86  [87] . 

would   retract,  p.  150  note  to 


Education  In  the  colonies,  .'2  [421 

Edward  the  First,  81  [80]  and  p  146 
note  to  [80]. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  80  [79]. 

Empire,  British,  26  [2]  and  p  143 
note  to  [121];  distracted,  30  [8]; 
how  composed,  66  [59-61];  concord 
of  this,  73  [67];  source  of  wealth 
in  British, 81  [79];  compromise  in, 
107  [120];  unity  of,  108  [1211,  of 
Germany,  114  [130]  and  p  150  note 
to  [130];  bow  held  together,  119 
[137],  121  [139]. 

Enfranchisement  of  slaves,  64  [55, 
and  p.  144  note  to  [55]. 

Ephesians,  pp.  138. 145  notes  to  [2]t 
[67  j. 

Event,  2-5  [1]  and  127. 

Ex  vi  termini,  67  [60]  and  p.  145  note 
to  [60]. 

Experiments,  pernicious,  59  [47]. 

Expennwntum  in  corpore  viti,  109 
[124]. 

Exodus,  p  113  note  to  [95J. 

Export  trade  to  the  colonies,  36-39. 

Extent,  treasury,  p,  150 note  to  [130J. 

Falkland  Island,  43  [30]   and  p.  142 

note  to  [30]. 

Falsify  the  pedigree,  63  [53]. 
Fashionable  doctrine,  27  [2]  and  p. 

138  note  to  [2] . 

Fiction  lags  after  truth,  42  [27]. 
Financiers,  American,  74  [70]   and 

p.  145  note  to  [70]. 
First  lords  of  trade,  p.  148  note  to 

[»»]. 

Fisheries  of  the  colonies.  43  [30j. 
Force,  objections  to,  45-46  [32-36]. 
Foreign  enemy,  46  [34]  and  p.  142 

note  to  [34] ;  p.  150  note  to  [136] . 
Former  unsuspecting  confidence,  31 

[9]  and  p.  140  note  to  [9]. 
Form   of  sound  words,  91   [95]  and 

p,148  note  to  [95]. 
Fresh  principles,  27  [2J. 
Front,  32  [11]  and  p.  141  note  to[llj, 

35  [16]. 


156 


INDEX 


Fuller,  Mr.  Rose,  28  [5]  and  p.  139 

note  to  [5], 
Further  views,  colonists    have,  74 

[70]  aiidp,  145  note  to  [70]. 


Gage,  General,  p.  143  note  to  [42] 
General  theories,  34  [14]. 
Genesis,  p.  144  note  to  [50], 
George  the  Second,  93  [96]  and  p  148 

note  to  [96], 
Glover,  Mr.  36  [17]  and  p  141  note  to 

[17]. 
Good  for  us  to  be  here,  it  is,  39  [25] 

and  p.  141  note  to  [25]. 
Gothic,  52   [41]  and   p.  US  note  to 

[41]. 

Government,  good  intention  in,  31 
[10] ;  by  abstract  ideas,  34  [14] ;  by 
general  theories,  34  [14];  must  be 
suited  to  the  people,  35  [16],  73  [67] ; 
care  and  caution  in,  35  [16];  wise 
and  salutary  neglect  in,  44  [30]; 
determined  by  the  character  of  the 
people,  47  [37];  must  win  the 
learned  to  its  support,  53  [42],  is 
relaxed  by  distance,  55  [43]; 
founded  on  compromise,  106 
[120] ;  maintained  by  loyalty,  120 
[137]. 
Grace  and  bounty,  32  [11]  and  p.  141 

note  to  [11]. 
Grand  penal  bill,  25  [1]  and  p.  138 

note  to  [1];  31  [10], 
Grant,  taxation  by,  48  [38],  81  [79], 
83  [83],  86  [87],89[91]  and  p.  148  note 
to  [91], 94  [99], 97   [105]   and  p.  148 
note  to    [105];    98  [106];  109  [124]; 
power  of  refusal,  115  [133]. 
Grants,  of  land,  60  [49];  popular,  81 

[79]. 
Great  Britain,  40  [25]  and  p.  Ill   note 

to  [25]. 
Green,  J.  R.pp.  146, 150,  notes  to  [79], 

[122]. 
Grenville,  p  148  note  to  [99], 97  [105], 

105  [119]. 
Guinea,  cap  tain,  65  [56], 


Hampden,  p.  143  note  to  {38]. 
Hanover,  house  of,  p.  148  note  to 

179]. 

Harrington,  88  [90]. 
Hebrews,  p.  139  note  to  [7]. 
Henry,  the  Third,  81  [80]  and  p.  146 

note  to  [80];  the  Eighth,  83  [83], 

102  [113]. 
HillsDorough,Lord,93  [96]  and  p.  148 

note  to  [96]. 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  150' note  to 

[130]. 

Horace,  notes  to  84, 91.  [139]. 
Hosea,  p.  149  note  to  [120]. 
Hosmer's,     Samuel    Adktins,  p    143 

note  to  [42], 
Hudson's  Bay, 43  [30]. 

Imposition,  taxation  by,  89  [91  ]   ami 

p.  148  note  to  [91],  98  [lOfi]. 
Inconsiderable  person,  30  [7], 
Increase  and  multiply,  62  [50]  and 

p.  144  note  to  [50]. 
Indian,  act  of,  1773,  p.  150  note  to 

[136]. 
Indictment  against  a  whole  people, 

67  [59], 
|  Indulgence,  our  ancient,  46  [35]  and 

p.  142  note  to  [35] ;    systematic,  73 

[68]. 
Influence,  natural  or  adventitious, 

30  [8]  and  p.  139  note  to  [8] 
Instruction,  disarm  by,  82  [81]  and 

p.  147  note  to  [81]. 
Ireland,  79  [79]   and  p.  146  note  to 

[79] ;  108    [122]   and  p.  150  note   to 

[122]. 
Irish    parliament   abolished,  p.  150 

note  to  [122], 
Irish  pensioners,  81  [79]. 
Isaiah,  p.  147  note  to  [89], 

James,  the  First,  p.  146  note  to  [79]; 

the  Second,  p.  146  note  to  [79]. 
Jewel,  107  [120]. 
Job,  p.  143  note  to  [43]. 
Johnson,  Dr.  p.  144  note  to  [55] 
Judges,  p.  144  note  -o  153J. 


INDEX 


157 


Judges,  pay  of,  p.  149  note  [115]. 
Juridical,  30  [9]  and  p.  139  note  to  [9]. 
Juvenal,  notes  to  63,  88,[120],  llti. 

Kings,  p.  150  note  to  [137J. 

Laid  hold  on,  30  [7]   and  p.  139  note 

to  [7]. 
Land  tax  act,  120[138]  and  p.  151  note 

to  [138]. 

Law  study  in  the  colonies,  52  [42]. 
Legislative  authority,  87  [88]    and 

p.  147  note  to  [S8J,  104  [118]. 
Legislature,superintending,108  [121] 

and  p.  149  note  to  [121]. 
Leveller,  a  mighty,  29  [7]. 
Lexington, p.  138  note  to  [4]. 
Liberty,  English  ideas  of,  47  [38] ; 

abstract,  48  [38] ;  spirit  in  Virginia 

and  Carolina,  51  [41];    inheres  in 

some  sensible  object,  48  [38]  and 

p.  143  note  to  [38]. 
Like  unto,  90  [94]  and  p.  148  note  to 

[94]. 
Loan,  return  in,  118  [136]  and  p,  15" 

note  to  [130]. 

Locke,  John,  p.  139  note  to  [7]. 
Logical  illation,  106  [120]  and  p.  149 

note  to  [120]. 

Longitude,  run  the,  44  [30]. 
Lords    marchers,  81  [80]  and  p.  140 

110  te  to  [80]. 

•Magnacharta,79[79]. 
Magnanimity,  33   [13] ;    in  politics, 

121  [139]. 
Marchers  lords,   81  [80]  and  p.  14G 

note  to  [80]. 

Mark,  p.  141  note  to  [25]. 
Massachusetts,  colony    bill,  p.   138 

note  to  [4];  68  [46]  and  p.  143  note 

to  [46] ;  declared  in  rebellion, 69  [62] 

and  p.  145  note  to  [62],  102  [111]. 
Matthew,  pp.  141,  144,  148,  150  notes 

to  [25],  [53],  [94],  [137]. 
Menacing  front  of  our  address,  32 

[11]  aud  p.  141  note  to  [1JJ- 


Milton,  pp.  144, 145,  147,  150  notes  to 

[50],  [66],  [90],  [134]. 
Minima,  35  [16]  and  p.  141  note  to 

[16]. 
Ministers  of  vengeance,  54  [43]   and 

p.  143  note  on  [43]. 
More,  88  [90]. 
Mutiny  bill,  120  [138]  and  p.  151  note 

to  [138]. 

Natural  or  adventitious  Influence, 
30  [8]  and  p.  139  note  to  [8]. 

Navigation  acts,  74  [70-72]  and  p. 
145  note  to  [71], 

Non  meus  hie  sermo,  91  [95] . 

North,  Lord,  31  [10]  and  p  140  note 
to  [10];  32  [11];  33  [13];  p.  142  note 
to  [31] ;  109  [123] ;  p  150  note  to 
[136], 

Obedience  is  what  makes  govern 
ment,  57  [45], 
Oceana,88[90]. 
Omen,  25  [1]. 
Ovid.  p.  J44  note  to  53. 

Palatirre,  coucn^,  tn   (.84]  and  p. !-». 

note  to  [84], 
Pale,  p.  146  note  to  [79]. 
Pamphlet,  76  [73], 
Paper  government,  29  [7]  and  p.  139 

note  to  [7]. 
Parliament,  enlarged   view   of,  27 

[4];    ought  to  propose   peace,  33 

[13];  as  judge  and  litigant,  69  [61]; 

as  superintending  legislature,  108 

[121]  and  p.  149  note  to  [121J. 
Parties  must  exist,  117  [134], 
Partition  of  Poland,  p.  143  note  to 

[41]. 

Passed  sentence,  25  [1]. 
Peace,  30  [9].  33  [13] ;  with  honor,  33 

[13]. 

Pedigree,  falsify  the,  63  [53]. 
Pennsylvania,  trade  of,  41  [26]. 
Person,  inconsiderable,  30  [7J. 
Peter,  p.  147  note  to,  [83]. 
Philip  the  Second,  78  [78]  and  p.  146 

note  to  [78]. v 


158 


INDEX 


Plato,  88  [90]. 

Play  the  game  out,  28  [5],  128. 

Poles,  52  [41]  and  p.  143  note  to  [41]. 

Pope,  p  144  note  to  [57]. 

Postta  ludttur  area,  116  [133] 

Principles,  fresh,  27  [2]:   of  colony 

government,  28  [5], 
Privilege  implies  a  superior  power, 

(i7  [00]. 

Produce  our  hand,  28  [5],  128. 
Profane  herd,  121  [139]    and  p.  151 

note  to  [139]. 
Prohibition  by  proclamation,  82  [81] 

and  p.  147  note  to  [81]. 
Project,  31  [10]  and  p.  140  note  to 

1 10],  82  [11]. 
Protestantism   of    the    Protestant 

religion,  51  [40], 
Psalms,  p.  144  note  to  [50]. 
Pym,  p.  143  note  to  [38]. 

Quebec,  p.  148  note  to  [93], 
Quebec  act,  p.  138  note  to  [4]. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  07  [59]  and  p.  144 
note  to  [59]. 

Ransom,  32  [10] ;  109  [124];  111  [127]. 

Rebellion  declared  in  Massachu 
setts,  69  [P.2]  and  p.  145  note  to[02J. 

Reconciliation,  33  [131. 

Refined  po1  icy,  31  [10]. 

Refusal  .power  of,  115  [133]. 

Registry,  '«  [11]  and  p.  140  note  to 
[113. 

Religion '-f  the  colonies,  50  [40]  and 
p.  143  note  to  [40J. 

Representation,  taxation  without, 
76  [74], 86  [87];  granted  to  Wales, 
83  [83];  virtual,  87  [88]  and  p.  147 
note  to  [88] ;  substitute  for  88  [89] ; 
and  legislation,  101  [118]. 

Republic  of  Plato,  88  [90], 

Requisitions,  97  [105]  and  p.  148  note 
to  [105]. 

Responsibility  of  ministers,  p.  148 
note  to  [99]. 

Restoration,  the,  80  [79J  and  p.  146 
note  to  179], 


Return  In  loan,  118  [136]  &nd  p.  16« 

note  to  [136], 

Revenue  by  grant,  see  taxation. 
Revenue  by  imposition,    see  taxa« 

tion. 

Revenue  from  America,  118  [130]. 
Revolution,  the,  80  [79]  and  p.  146 

note  to  [79], 
Rhode  Island,  101  [111]  and  p.  14& 

note  to  [111]. 
Rice,  Mr.  74  [70], 
Richard  the  Second, 84  [84]. 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  50  [40]. 
Roman  charity,  43  [29]  and  p.  142 

note  to  [29]. 
Ruling  by  discord,  31  [9]  and  p.  139 

note  to  [9], 
Run  the  longitude,  44  [30]  and  p.  142 

note  to  [30] 


Sensible   object,   48   [38]   and  p.  143 

note  to  [38], 
S&ibonian  bog,  72  [00]  and  p.  145  note 

to  [00]. 
Serpent,  43  £30]   and  p.  142  note  to 

[30]. 
Shadowy  boundaries,  31   [9]  and  p. 

139  note  to  [9J. 
Shakspere,  pp.  141, 143, 149,  150  notes 

to  [11],  [45],  [120],  [137]. 
Slave  trade,  37  [20]  and  p,  141  note  to 

[20]. 
Slaves,  haughty,  107  [120]  and  p.  149 

note  to  [120]. 
So  far  shalt  thou  go,  54  [43]   and 

p.  143  note  to  [43], 
Speech  would  betray  you  63  [53]  and 

p.  144  note  to  [53]. 
Spirit  of  the  colonies,  46  [34],  47  [37] 
Spoliatis  arma  snpersuni,G3  [52] 
Stamp  act.  pp.  133, 139, 145, 147  notes 

to  [2],  [3],  [9],  [69],  [90],  93  [96,, 

p.  148  note  to  [99], 
Startle,  71  [66]  and  p.  145  note  to  [66], 
State,  comparative,  36  [19]  and  p  111 

note  to  [19]. 
Suit,  loss  of  my, 72  [66J. 


INDEX 


150 


Jfursum  corda,  121  [1391. 
Swift,  p, 'H  note  to  [57J. 

Tartars,  Cl   [50]   and  p.  144  note  to 

[50). 

Paste  of  death,  41  [25], 
Taxation,  and  liberty, 48  [38];  by 
fcTant,  43  [38],  81  [79],  83  [831,  80 
1.871,89  [91]  and  p.  148  note  to  [91]; 
94  [99]  p.  148  note  to  [105] :  108  [121]  ; 
115  [133]  by  imposition,  89  [91]  and 
p.  148  note  to  [91];  right  of,  p  139. 
note  to  [9];  71  [6G];  104  [118],  106 
[120];  the  origin  of  the  trouble,  76 
174];  of  Virginia  tobacco,  112  [128] 
and  p.  150  note  to  [128]. 
Taxation  no  Tyranny,  p.  144  note  to 

[55]. 

Tea-tax,  pp.  138, 139  notes  to  [4].  [5]. 
Temper     and     character     of     the 

colonies,  47  [36  et.  seq.]. 
Thurlow,  53  [42]  and  p.  143  note  to 

[42]. 

Ties  light  as  air,  p.  150  note  to  [137]. 
Timothy,  pp.  139,  148  notes  to  [7], 

[95], 

Title,  the  assertion  of  my,  72  [86]. 
Tobacco,  Virginia,  112  [128]  and  p. 

J50  note  to  [128]. 
Tories,  p.  139  note  to  [9] ;  p.  147  note 

to  [88]. 
Touch  with  a  tool,  91   [95].  and  148 

note  to  [95]. 
Touched   and    grieved,   85   [85],  90 

[94],92[96J. 

Trade  with  the  colonies,  3r,-42[  17-28] ; 
African, 37  [20]  and  p.  141  note  to 
[20];  attempts  to  restrict  slave 
trade,  05  [oG]  and  p.  144  note  to 
[50];  laws,  74  [70]  and  p.  145  nota 
«lo  [70];  82  [81];  p.  148  note  to  [96]. 
transportation  bill,  p.  138  note  to 
14J. 


Treasury  extent,  p.  150  rote  to  1.130} 
Truck  and  huckster,  55  [43j 
Trust,  26  [2]. 
Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester,  pp.  144, 

146  notes  to  [47],  173]. 
Turk,  government  of,  65  [43], 

Union,  act  of,  40  [25]  and  p.  141  note 

to  [25] . 
Unity,  of  spirit,  73   [67];    of    the 

empire,  108  [122], 
Unsuspecting  confidence,  31  [9]  ar.d 

p.  140  note  to  [9]. 
Utopia  88  [90]. 

Vane,  p.  143  note  to  [38]. 
Vergil,  notes  to  40  p.  151  [13?V 
Veto  power,  p.  149  note  to  [111]. 
Vexed,  44    [30],  and  p.  142  note  to 

[30J. 
Virginia,  spirit  of    liberty    in,  51 

:«]. 

Virtually    represented,   p.   147  note 
to  [88]. 

Wales,  81  [80]. 

Wax   and   parchment,  62  [50j   and 

p.  144  note  to  [50]. 
Whigs,     opinions      on      taxation, 

p.    139  note  to    [9];   opinions   on 

representation,  p.  147  note  to  [88]. 
Wield    the    thunder,    45   [31]   ami 

p.  142  note  to  [31]. 
William,  Prince  of   Orange,  p   146 

note  to,  [79], 
Winged  ministers  of  vengeance,  54 

[43]  and  p.  143  note  to  [43], 
Wise  beyond   what   was    written 

91   [95]  and  p.  118  note  to  [95]. 

Ye   gods,   annihilate,   etc.,  66   f57] 
and  p.  144  note  to  [67J. 


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